Rochelle sweeps E-Rabs 4-0 on Monday

ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Hub varsity tennis team had no trouble during Monday’s season-opening nonconference match against Rockford East. Despite missing a few starters to the spring break holiday, Rochelle cruised over the E-Rabs 4-0 to open the season with a win.

The Hubs dropped only one game in the match, with both doubles teams cruising to wins without conceding a single game. Rochelle took the 1-0 lead after junior Jimmy Chavez shut out Abedi Amuri 8-0 on the No. 1 singles court. The Hubs extended their lead after seniors Owen Haas and John Green secured an 8-0 victory over the E-Rabs on the No. 1 doubles court.

“It feels great to get our first win,” Haas said. “We gelled really well last year and I think we’ll continue to grow as a team as our season goes on. I think we’ll have another shot at winning the conference. We came up a little short but we’re ready to go for it again. We have a lot of depth and I don’t think we have any bad singles or doubles players. If one of our players or one of our doubles teams drops a match, then one of our other players or teams will pick them up.”

Junior Parker Lenkaitis and senior Evin Odle delivered the match victory for the Hubs, downing Mario Rivera and Corbin Martin 8-0 on the No. 2 doubles court. Freshman Mark Green stepped up at the No. 2 singles court and earned his first varsity win, conceding only one game in his 8-1 win over Josh Luang. Rochelle will face LaSalle-Peru on the road Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

“It feels great to be back out here and we’re really excited about this season,” Odle said. “We have a strong team and I think we’ll be a lot stronger than we were last season. We have some good newcomers and we’re excited to see what the future holds. We all get along really well, which helps our team play better. We’re hoping to win the conference championship this year.”