CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. - An undefeated season resulting in a league title would have been a banner year for many high school teams. For the members of Horace Greeley's boy tennis team, though, it's just business as usual.
"Its probably the best Greeley team," said coach Brett Romney. "If you go over the last four or five years weve probably lost three or four matches. And we play the best competition."
Despite taking home a third-consecutive title in 2011, Romney never quantifies his team's success by wins. More than anything, the coach said, he just wants his players to improve.
"We just want to get better," Romney said. "Especially new people on the team, who are new to the team, we want to see them get more comfortable. It seems like there is an adjustment period for a lot of kids. They dont feel part of the team until the end of their first year on the team. They dont have the swagger."
To challenge his players and build that swagger, Romney, who is in his seventh year with the group, continually schedules top out-of-league and out-of-state competition.
"Everyone wants the best competition," Romney said. "You figure like some kids just want to go 13-0, but these kids just want to play the best kids. Its kind of interesting."
Greeley improved to 3-0 so far in the 2012 season on Tuesday with a win over a top-ranked Greenwich High School team that has won nine of the last 10 FCIAC (Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference) championships.
Unfortunately, Romney said, his team's continued success has not done much to draw crowds to its home matches.
"Weve always felt heres this great team weve had for the last four or five years, and we get crowds for Scarsdale and Byram Hills, but otherwise, theres just not a lot of interest within the Greeley student body," Romney said.
Romney hopes to see more of a crowd for his team's next home match against Mamaroneck High School at 4:15 p.m. on Monday.
Click here to follow Daily Voice and receive free news updates.
