BROOKFIELD 鈥 The courts were electric.
The spectators were loud. The players were amped.
Even the exhibition matches had a buzz around them.
That鈥檚 what happens when crosstown rivals and annual state powers Brookfield Central and Brookfield East collide.
On Thursday, in the middle of all the craziness, the host Lancers made an impressive statement. Central won three of four singles matches and two of three on the doubles side to topple the Spartans, 5-2.
"The key was our depth and energy," said Central coach Jon Vogt, whose team improved to 18-3 this season. "We鈥檝e lost a few matches this year and one reason is our energy wasn鈥檛 where it needed to be. Tonight, we were pumped up."
East (8-4) entered the night ranked No. 2 in the latest Wisconsin High School Tennis Coaches Association poll, while Central was No. 5. Despite the loss to their main adversary, East coach Linda Lied appreciated the lively atmosphere and felt OK about where her team was headed.
"Even though we lost, it was a fun match," Lied said. "The energy was outrageous and the kids were cheering so loud for each other, which made it really fun.
"But I鈥檓 not throwing in the towel. This might be a loss we needed to help some of our guys get their games more diverse. Maybe we needed to get clobbered a little bit."
"Clobber" would be overstating how this match unfolded. But Central certainly ruled the day, with all five of its wins coming in straight sets.
On the singles鈥 side, Lancers sophomore Andrey Semin improved to 19-1 on the year with a 6-2, 6-1 win over East freshman Luca Bonfilio (10-2). At No. 3, Central sophomore Michael Li pushed his record to 19-2 with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Spartans sophomore Clark Meyers (6-3).
And at No. 4, Lancers freshman Noah Weitzer improved to 18-3 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over East junior Noah Ren.
鈥淲e really had smart play,鈥 Vogt said of his singles players. 鈥淢ichael had a great match against a really good player. Andrey did a nice job figuring out how to win points against another good player. East has really good singles players, but our guys played extremely well.鈥
The Lancers played awfully well in the doubles match, too.
At No. 2, senior Sridhar Thiru and freshman Eric Wang posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over East juniors Rohith Kumar and Shiming Ma. The key was the Lancers鈥 duo was aggressive and attacked the net with great success.
And at No. 3 doubles, junior Joshua Wang and sophomore Diogo Trevizan rolled to a 6-0, 6--0 win over senior Shiv Muthupandiyan and sophomore Ethan Zhang. Much like No. 2 doubles, Wang and Trevizan shined at the net and were extremely smart with their angles.
鈥淭his is a really coachable group,鈥 Vogt said. 鈥淓very year you鈥檙e going to have ups and downs, but when we鈥檝e had those moments, this group has really responded.鈥
East did have a pair of impressive wins.
Senior Oscar Corwin, the WIAA Division 1 defending state singles champion, improved to 8-0 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Central senior Surya Arvind. And East鈥檚 top doubles team of senior Grant Meyers and sophomore Jake Zheng downed Central senior Aaditya Tiwari and junior Jacob Smith, 6-3, 6-3.
鈥淥scar played great, played amazing,鈥 Lied said of Corwin. 鈥淗e鈥檚 hitting a clean ball. It鈥檚 good, it鈥檚 so fun. And Grant and Jake had a great match, too.鈥
Near the end of each practice at East, Lied yells, 鈥渓ast one, best one.鈥 That was the exact message she had for team after they fell to Central.
鈥淲e鈥檝e only got to beat them once, at the sectionals,鈥 Lied said. 鈥淪o let鈥檚 make the last one the best one.鈥
Right now, though, Central looks like a team that will be extremely tough to knock off.
The Lancers have been to the state team tournament 15 teams since 1995, but haven鈥檛 won a state title since 2001. There is no dominant team in Wisconsin this year, and schools like Brookfield Central, Madison West, Marquette, Middleton and Brookfield East all figure to be in contention for a state championship next month.
Vogt has all of his players carry notecards with things they need to work on and goals they hope to achieve. And by the looks of things Thursday, the Lancers are well on their way to achieving many of those objectives.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of parity this year and a lot of teams that can win state,鈥 Vogt said. 鈥淲e think we鈥檙e in that group, but we have to make sure we build on this. Right now, though, this feels good.鈥
