East boys look to tradition

BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

Wednesday, Aug 22, 2007 - 12:08:23 am CDT

Brandon Videtich and his Lincoln East teammates are using the past to motivate them for the near-future — the boys high school tennis season, which starts Thursday.

The current Spartans are well aware of their school’s illustrious tennis history in the late 1980s and early 1990s — a state record eight straight Class A state titles from 1988 and 1995. They also know Omaha Creighton Prep, winners of the last six Class A state meets, can inch closer to that mark if they hoist the hardware again Oct. 12 at Omaha’s Koch Family Tennis Center.

With five starters back from last year’s fourth-place team at state, East could be in a position to stop the Junior Jays.

“This is a defining year for us to see if we can knock off Creighton Prep and keep them from winning another one (state title),” said Videtich, a senior who’s entering his third season as East’s No. 1 player. “Tennis is really important to our school, and we want to add to that long tradition.”

For coach Jeff Hoham, who guided the Spartans to those eight straight titles, any talk right now about the state tournament is premature. His top priorities are preparing for East’s triangular Thursday against Omaha Burke and Lincoln Southeast, and figuring out his team’s tournament lineup from an experienced and talented group of varsity players.

“It’s way too early to look at state and start putting expectations on this team,” said Hoham, whose team went 8-1 in duals last season and won the Heartland Conference tournament title. “But I have a lot of confidence in the mental toughness and experience of our guys. I think we’ll be competitive.”

It starts with the 6-foot-3, left-handed Videtich at the top of the lineup. Videtich, 26-4 last fall and a quarterfinalist at state, joins fellow senior and 2005 champion John DeVose of Papillion-La Vista South, North Platte senior Kyle Obermeier and Omaha Burke freshman standout Jackson Withrow as some of the early favorites to win Class A, No. 1 singles.

Videtich had a successful summer on the tournament circuit, winning the boys 18-and-under title at the Nebraska Junior Closed State Championships earlier this month in Kearney. Regular workouts at the Nebraska Tennis Academy with director Brian Clark and pro Jesse Plotte and hitting sessions there with last year’s state champion Taylor Boney of Lincoln Southwest (now a freshman at Nebraska) have all helped to raise his level of play.

“I think Brandon is living proof of what happens when you combine talent with hard work,” Hoham said. “He’s the most dedicated player I’ve had in the program in over a decade, and I think it will pay off this season.’’

East also returns its No. 2 singles player, senior Matt Dunlap who was fourth at state last season. Another senior, Alex Neuhaus, was part of a No. 1 doubles team a year ago that went 20-8. Six-foot-7 senior basketball player Garth Hamilton and junior Ross Schulenberg were state runner-ups at No. 2 doubles and recorded a 26-3 mark in 2006.

“The only thing set in our (tournament) lineup is Brandon at No. 1 (singles),” Hoham said. “We have about five different options available to us, and that’s a nice problem to have. We need to find the spots where the others can score the most (team) points.’’