Tennis
continued
junior varsity matches) over the past six years of 166 wins, four losses and 12 ties. This includes a five-year undefeated streak of 138 dual meets. "Thirty players lettered on the varsity this season," claims Hillway. "In order to letter, each player had to compete against seven varsity teams in official matches. To gain a position on our team, each kid has ¡ to have three head-on wins over the player behind him on the ladder. "These tennis players are excellent athletes," he adds. "They defeated the junior varsity soccer team in soccer. They've beaten the sophomore boys basketball team in basketball, the girls volleyball team in volleyball, and so forth. Eight of our top nine players have A grade-point averages in school, and our other player has a B-plus average. They are all among the top school leaders in government, clubs and the school newspaper." The nine individuals on the present Cherry Creek varsity have won, during their careers, sixteen separate state titles in Colorado high school tennis. These nine have accumulated in the past four years 359 wins and five losses. Finally, Colorado's top three players - all three seniors on the Cherry Creek team - are among the better players in the United States and are ranked one, two and three in the six-state Intermountain Region in boys tennis- age 18 and under singles. John Benson, number one man on the
team, is tentatively ranked number 23 in the country in 18 and under singles in the preliminary USTA rankings. He became the first player in the 51-year history of the Colorado high school state tennis tournament to win four consecutive singles championships, his last three in number one singles. His career mark for four years with the Bruins is 75 wins, one loss, and he recently reached the semifinals of the national tournament held in Dallas during the Thanksgiving weekend. His brother Dave is on the varsity team at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Senior Brian
Senior Bob Brown: 68-0
Senior John Benson: 75-1
Senior Bob Brown finished his high school career at Cherry Creek with 68 wins and no losses. He won three state titles: number two singles this year, number three singles last year and number one doubles as a sophomore. He is ranked number two in singles in the six-state region. Senior Brian Sullivan was also nationally ranked in 18 and under singles in 1976. Brian completed a super prep career with 76 wins against no losses, losing only one set in four years. He won four consecutive state titles, including number two doubles as a ninth grader, number two singles the next two seasons and number three singles last fall. As a senior he lost only 14 games in 19 matches
Portions of the above appeared in the November 12 edition of COLORADO SIDELINES, Scott Stocker editor.
Sulli~tan:
76-0
and won 13 matches by 6-0 scores to bring his high school total to 30 shutouts. He became the fourth player in Colorado history to win four state titles in tennis, following John Benson as well as Charlie Kettering and Willy Shafroth who achieved this before graduating from Cherry Creek in 1974-75. Other players for the Cherry Creek varsity included junior Ken Mason (two ¡state titles and a 52-I record) and junior Marlis Smith (a 46-3 record and ranked second in the Intermountain at age 16 and under) who came in third in the number one doubles, senior Mike Murray (36-0 record and two state titles) and senior Bill Whistler (35-1 record and two state titles) who won the number two doubles, sophomore Rich Levine (19-0) and freshman Dave Friedman ( 19-0) who won the number three doubles in the state tournament. "I felt like a terrific load had been lifted off my shoulders," said an elated John Benson after he had successfully defended his numlJer one singles title in the state meet at the Air Force Academy. "I really felt the pressure this season. So had the whole team. We're relieved it's over." For the senior-dominated Cherry Creel< team, a fifth straight AAA team title was safely tucked away as Benson downed Fountain Valley's Tab McGinley 6-1, 6-2 for this third consecutive number one title. Benson opened his title defense by whipping Thomas Jefferson's Mark Seivier 6-1, 6-3, then advanced into the semi-finals by topping Evergreen's Eric Dufford 6-4, 6-2. Robby Hill met Benson in the semifinals, but the young Manual sophomore was no match, falling 6-1, 6-1. Hill did go on to take the third place medal PREP I APRIIL-MA Y 1977
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