On paper, Christ School may still be a relatively young tennis team. Matches are not played on paper though, and coach Cameron Hillier is pleased with the nucleus that the Greenies return for this spring.
Xander Barber ’23 was the 2019 Carolinas Athletic Association Player of the Year and an NCISAA all-state selection as an eighth grader. His first year of high school tennis saw Xander go 13-0 in singles and 13-1 in doubles.
He along with Sid Shah ’22, William Saye ’20, and Kevin Zheng ’21 are starters back from last year’s 9-5 varsity team. They are expected to not only fill the top-four slots in singles but make up the top-two doubles teams. Xander and Shah won a preseason doubles tournament hosted by the Country Club of Asheville on Feb. 22.
Who will be the No. 5 and No. 6 singles players? That is still up in the air with Ben Fedder ’24, Patrick Wilds ’21, Trip Yarborough ’21, and Michael Drendel ’23 vying for a place in the lineup.
“I think we’ll be just as competitive as we were (in 2019),” Coach Hillier said. “We are still a young team, but with a little more experience under our belt, we’re hoping to get some of those close matches where we were maybe a game or two away from winning last year.”
The season opener for the Greenies is March 24 at Covenant Day.
Once again, Coach Hillier expects Asheville School to be the toughest competition in the Carolinas Athletic Association. Defending NCISAA Division I state champion Charlotte Country Day comes to Arden for the varsity’s regular-season finale on April 24.
Charlotte Country Day blanked the Greenies, 5-0, in last year’s second round of the dual team state playoffs.
“They reached out to us and that is kind of exciting,” Coach Hillier said. “When the defending state champions reach out to play a match, that means our program is growing and established.”