VHVB 2002

The story:

After a solid start in 2001, expectations were raised for the ‘02 season. The roster finally had seniors, but we had shed some kids anyway, and only had 9 available many days for practice. Eventually, Pat Chmura would play a lot of varsity but fall short of the number of matches needed to earn a letter, making him our 11th man. New coach Mike Aldworth (a Rolling Meadows grad who had played in the state finals twice himself) got a lot of court time in practice.

Our schedule stepped up in difficulty as we joined the Buffalo Grove tourney, featuring state powers BG and WWS, who we took to 3. We also joined the Glenbrook North tourney (where we’ve stayed nearly 20 years as of this writing...the only other tourney we’ve been in since the start is the one we host), finishing second behind the hosts and getting our first win over LWE.

That second season also saw our first win over Libertyville (when Erich Steinhaus had the match of his life [to that point]...they weren’t counting on that), finished second in the Lake County Invite, losing to Mundelein after beating them to open the tourney (we’d play Mundelein 5 times in ‘02), and finishing second to Lake Forest in our 2nd time through the NSC.

Record: 23-12-1 (6-2, 2nd/9 NSC)

Post-season: d. Antioch (first ever playoff win) then lost to Mundelein 4-15, 12-15 in the Regional Final (at Mundelein HS)

Roster: 

Scott Barrett
Ervin Cabrales
Justin Frazier
Kurt Galera
Carlito Nazal
Ryan Nishimoto
Ian Peckler
Glen Scherrer
Erich Steinhaus
Matt Tiojanco

Individual Awards:

NSC All-Conference: Ervin Cabrales, Scott Barrett, Ian Peckler
NSC All-Conference Honorable Mention: Glenn Scherrer
Daily Herald All-Area Team: Ervin Cabrales, Ian Peckler
Most Valuable Player: Ervin Cabrales
Most Improved Players: Kurt Galera, Erich Steinhaus
Coaches’ Senior Heart & Hustle: Ryan Nishimoto

Coaches:

Varsity: Chris Curry, Mike Aldworth (Ay dios mio)
Junior Varsity: Todd Williams
Freshman: Thom Koch Jr.