Lincoln Journal Star

East's Northey wins No.1 singles at Capital City Classic Invitational

BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 6:10 pm

Since Zach Northey started high school, he's had heart surgery for an irregular heart beat, broke his foot, sprained both ankles and suffered debilitating back and shoulder injuries.

So a slightly upset stomach was no big deal for the Lincoln East junior Tuesday in the eight-team Capital City Classic Invitational tennis tournament at Woods Tennis Center. Northey won the No. 1 singles division by going 4-0, finishing with an 8-2 win over Papillion-La Vista South's Caleb Palensky.

"Everything felt great," Northey said. "I took off three days this weekend, and my dad (Dave) was worried I wouldn't be playing well today because I hadn't been hitting. But it was a good day, I played well."

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Northey possesses one of the most powerful serves in the state, and he backs it up with go-for-broke groundstrokes and a solid net game. The whole arsenal was on display in the finals as Palensky was standing just a couple feet from the fence returning Northey's serve.

"Zach has as much ability as anyone in the top five or six players at No. 1 singles," East coach Jeff Hoham said of Northey, who is now 6-2 after season-opening losses to two-time defending state champion Jackson Withrow of Omaha Burke and Lincoln Southeast's Grant Tesmer.

Northey will see both Withrow and Tesmer Saturday at the Fremont Invitational.

"He just needs to learn to be patient and play the points a little longer instead of going for a winner on the first ball," Hoham added.

The Spartans won the team title by a 44-35 margin over runner-up Lincoln Pius X. East also captured gold medals at No. 2 singles with Michael Yoder and No. 2 doubles with the duo of Tim Dornbos and Jacob Dunlap.

Pius X's No. 1 doubles team of Garrett Sutton and Zach Peed won their division by going 4-0 and defeating Turner Fahey and Dylan Redman of Grand Island Central Catholic 8-5 in the finals.

For Sutton, the 5-0 start this season extends his winning streak at No. 1 doubles to 36 straight matches. He and graduated senior Kyle Conzemius were undefeated state champions last season.

Thunderbolt coach Bill Rice has not decided on a lineup yet, leaving the possibility open of Sutton moving to No. 1 singles. "Winning another team title (at state) is the most important thing, so I'm willing to play the position that helps the team the most, whether it's singles or doubles," Sutton said.

"We'll play a few more tournaments, and then figure out a lineup," Sutton added.