Solid lineup leads East to Capital City tennis title

BY RON POWELL / Lincoln Journal Star

The depth on the Lincoln East’s boys tennis team makes the Spartans formidable in dual meets.

But as they discovered at the Capital City Invitational Tuesday at Woods Tennis Center, it also comes in handy for tournaments, too.

The Spartans got a gold-medal performance from their No. 2 doubles combination of Chris Jensen and Alex Neuhaus on their way to the team title in the eight-school event. East edged out runner-up Papillion-La Vista South by an 18-17 margin for the first-place plaque.

Jensen and Neuhaus capped off a 4-0 day by rolling past Grand Island Central Catholic’s Blake Skora and Ryan McCarty 8-3 in the championship match. East took third in both No. 1 divisions with 3-1 records — Brandon Videtich at No. 1 singles and the combination of German foreign-exchange students Felix Heckman and Sveen Beckman at No. 1 doubles.

Matt Dunlap went 2-2 at No. 2 singles for the Spartans.

“There’s not a lot of difference in the ability level between our No. 1s and 2s,” said East coach Jeff Hoham, whose team won its first invitational title since 2001. “Chris (Jensen) played No. 2 doubles at state last year, and Alex (Neuhaus) is one of the most improved players on the team. I expect those two to do very well this season.”

Hoham is still figuring out the Spartans’ lineup at the top. There’s been a competitive battle between Videtich and Heckman for the No. 1 singles spot. Once that is settled, Beckman will then know who his doubles partner will be for the rest of the fall.

“I think Felix or Brandon can be among the top four or five players in the state,” Hoham said. “It’s nice to have depth at that position. Whoever shows they can hold up the best over two or three matches in a day, like you have at the state tournament, that’s who will play No. 1 singles.”

Papio South freshman John DeVose improved his record to 17-0 this fall by winning the No. 1 singles division. He overcame a 4-2 deficit and outlasted North Platte’s Kyle Obermeier 8-6 in the finals.

It’s his third win over Obermeier since DeVose and his family moved to Papillion from Munich, Germany, last December. But this was easily the toughest of the three matches.

“It was hard to get up on him today because he (Obermeier) was playing so well,” said DeVose, who won the Nebraska Closed 16-and-under title last month. “I had to change my game up a little. I had to go more defensive and just keep the ball in play.”

The other gold medalists were Grand Island Central Catholic’s Brad Kulus and Aaron Galvan at No. 1 doubles and North Platte’s Jeff Baumann at No. 2 singles.