After putting together a strong regular season, the boys combined for their best team performance of the year when it mattered most.  At the end-of-the-year conference tournament, all eleven starters competed hard, outpacing challenges from Cary-Grove and Huntley by a considerable margin to repeat as Conference Champions! 

Following Prom (and Pitchford) weekend, the boys' dance card was jam-packed with the final three FVC duals of the season.  Rain Monday postponed the already rescheduled tilt with PR to Wednesday.  On Tuesday, the team traveled to McHenry where, up 6-0 in the team tally, rain once again won the day, interrupting the final match on-court.  With the threatening weather finally behind us, we hosted perennial rivals Prairie Ridge on a gorgeous Wednesday in a match with serious FVC implications.  Great performances across the board saw the Golden Eagles capture a 5-2 win to salvage their shot at the regular season Fox Valley Conference title.  In a dead-heat Thursday, Cary-Grove blinked first, their 5-2 win couldn't match Jacobs' 7-0 sweep of Dundee-Crown as the Golden Eagles clinched the championship for the second year in a row.  Though the standings had already been determined, Kevin Burton made a return to McHenry Friday to close out his previously rain-suspended match, which he did by the narrowest of margins to preserve one final clean sweep as the team focuses their attention on the upcoming end of season tournament.

The long Easter weekend doesn't just mean egg-hunts and creepy bunny costumes, it also means TONS of tennis.  On Saturday, the Golden Eagles competed in a JV Invite at Rolling Meadows as well as Varsity events at Maine South and Freeport.  Both Varsity squads came away with hardware as the Freeport crew went 3-2 to capture the 3rd place trophy and the boys at Maine South finished the day 1/2 a point behind Batavia in the team race, but with just enough points to edge out Loyola to bring home the Runner-Up plaque.  After having Easter Sunday off, the team returned for a weekday quad, knocking off Marian Central, Streamwood, and South Elgin in Monday's quad to start a tough FVC stretch with Huntley and Crystal Lake South up next and Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge on the horizon.

The boys team hosted a double header with Crystal Lake Central and St. Charles East to kick off the regular season.  After a Fox Valley Conference-opening 5-2 win over the Tigers, the Golden Eagles followed things up with a 6-1 performance over the Saints.  Game Balls went to Jakub and Winston for two dominant doubles wins.  Jacobs hosts Hampshire Thursday.

On Friday, I was honored to be joined by many of our boys at the IHSTCA Awards Banquet, where I received the 2016 Boys Tennis Coach of the Year Award.  As I said in my speech, recognition like this is given to the coach, but earned by the players.  Very proud of the young men and women I'm fortunate enough to work with.  Thank you all!