WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – When senior Bobby Brown (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville) joined the Lycoming College men’s tennis team four years ago, the program had won just 23 matches in the previous 17 years. Brown has helped bring the Warriors to heights not seen since head coach Nelson Phillips made the team a perennial contender in the league between 1960 and 1979, as the Warriors have won 23 matches in the past four years.
Now, Brown and the Warriors’ gang of six players, none from more than 20 miles from the gates surrounding the campus, will look for their second straight Commonwealth Conference Championship, as they open with the championship semifinals on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. by facing 2009 champions Lebanon Valley at Bruce Henry Park. Like 2010, the Warriors (7-3 overall, 5-1 Commonwealth) enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed, behind Elizabethtown, which went a perfect 6-0 in conference play.
Brown, a District IV Class AA singles champion in 2007, was the starter’s piece in 2008, along with current volunteer assistant coach Alex Beattie (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport Area), as a collection of the best players in Lycoming county have joined them at the Williamsport campus. Senior captain Phil Shannon (Cogan Station, Pa./Williamsport Area) came on board in 2009 after transferring in.
In 2010, a trio of local players, David Brown and Jason Mifsud from Montoursville and Cody Heffner from Muncy, elevated the team into the best in the Commonwealth Conference, finishing 10-3 and taking the conference title with a 5-2 win over Elizabethtown in the finals. It was a sudden turnaround, as Brown and Beattie had joined a team that had won no matches in 2007 when the team joined the league.
This season, the Warriors, even with the loss of Beattie, who graduated after the fall semester, have replaced him with junior Devin Rachael (Jersey Shore, Pa./Jersey Shore), who was the No. 1 singles player for the Bulldogs for two years.
The Warriors feature one of the top-halves of a lineup in the league, with 2010 Second Team All-Commonwealth Conference selection Mifsud and two-time first-team all-conference selection Bobby Brown, pacing the team.
Mifsud, with a career 20-7 singles record, has moved comfortably into the No. 1 singles position, beating MAC Individual Singles First Flight champion Manrique Arrea of Elizabethtown in three sets and posting a 5-1 mark against No. 1 conference players.
Brown, after playing at the No. 1 position for the last three years, has also moved comfortably into the No. 2 position, where he has not lost in conference play.
At No. 3, David Brown, Bobby’s younger brother, has moved up from the No. 4 slot he occupied as a freshman, to post an 8-4 overall record and a 5-1 mark in conference play. At No. 4, Shannon has fought to an 8-5 record and a 4-2 mark in conference play while moving up a slot after the graduation of Beattie.
Heffner has been nearly perfect in the No. 5 slot, posting a 9-2 overall record and a 6-0 mark in conference play and Rachael has posted a 4-2 mark in conference matches at No. 6.
In doubles play, the Warriors have been just as good, with the Brown brothers posting a 10-3 overall mark and a 6-0 mark in conference play at No. 1. Mifsud and Shannon have gone 5-1 in conference play at No. 2 doubles and Heffner and Rachael have gone 5-1 at No. 3.
The Flying Dutchmen (10-8 overall, 4-2 Commonwealth) won the Commonwealth Conference title in 2009 with a thrilling 5-4 win over Elizabethtown in the championship match. Lebanon Valley is led by Ethan Grodzinski, who has gone 8-10 at the No. 1 position and Brad Sweigart, who is 5-2 at the No. 2 slot.
The winner of the match on Tuesday will advance to the Commonwealth Conference Championship on Saturday, April 30 between the winner of No. 1 Elizabethtown and No. 4 Messiah. The match will be at the higher-seeded schools’ home courts.
