Baldwin returns to winning ways

There was only one direction for the Baldwin boys’ tennis team to go after a rough 2017 season. But not only did the team show improvement, it proved it could reach even greater heights sooner rather than later. 

The Bruins made tremendous strides this spring by going 9-5 after dropping all 13 matches last year and is on the verge of being even better in 2019 if its top players continue to develop. A strong off-season recruitment push by the coaching staff paid dividends and this year’s results could attract even more prospects.

“We were really short guys last year,” second-year coach Nick Laforgia said. “They were frequently playing without third doubles of fourth doubles, which really affected us. But this year, we did a lot more recruiting and it made a big difference.”

The team’s top three singles players of Justin McMackin, Devon Smyth and Justin Narona and the top doubles pairs of Christian Guerrero and Kamaran Vakil and Kyle Prado and Jason Perez all had strong seasons and were the key reasons behind this year’s resurgence.

“I got a lot of really good individual talent and hard work, but it really came together as a team over the last few months to get some wins in,” Laforgia said.

McMackin, a junior, went an astounding 13-1 in first singles and is a tireless worker who initially made his mark on the program as a second-singles freshman.

“Over the years, I’ve really seen him change his game,” Laforgia said. “The last year or two, I’ve seen him try to overwhelm with power, and he certainly has the power. I think his biggest strength is to find his opponent’s weakness.”

Smyth went 10-4 in his final campaign and is smart on and off a court due to his No. 8 ranking among all Baldwin seniors in the classroom. He was also instrumental in helping shape this year’s roster while also mentoring the underclassmen. 

“He’s really helped me recruit this year,” Laforgia said. “He really helped me coach as well. He spent so much time working with the younger kids, really try to make them better.”

Fellow senior Justin Norona, a longtime doubles player, won about half of his matches in third singles. “He played a really important role for us,” Laforgia said. “He really had a great season and he worked hard.”

With Norona moving to singles, sophomore Guerrero took over the top doubles slot with senior Vakil and the pair “had a really good year”, according to Laforgia.

“Kamaran is just a fantastic player,” he said about the senior class salutatorian. “I call him ‘The Spider’ because he seems to be everywhere. Christian, this is just his second year playing tennis and just impressed me so much. He’s gotten so much better. Christian is lined up to be in the second singles spot next year.”

Laforgia also credited the third-doubles pair of Anton Smith and Nehma Stemm and the fourth-doubles combination of Samual Ajah and Dylan Lipitz for their contributions.