Andover boys helped the Willows boys tennis team upset this year's regular season champion Woburn by a score of 5-3 to win their 2009 league championship in May.
The Willows boys tennis team consists of 60 boys, 90 percent of whom are from Andover and North Andover. They train at the Willows Racquet and Fitness Centre in North Andover. Their season runs from September through May. The boys practice an average of three times a week with the team, and many of them practice additionally, according to coach Igor Korik. The team is co-coached by Mike Roberts and Korik.
The format for competition is a total of eight matches, consisting of four age divisions (18s, 16s, 14s and 12s).
A singles and a doubles match is played in each age division and the combined results are tallied to determine the overall team winner.
The team competes weekly against 13 communities throughout the North Shore including Woburn, Winchester, Newburyport, Lynnfield, Lexington, etc. They finished the season with a 20-4 record. The top 4 teams were invited to participate in a playoff competition. The team defeated Newburyport, last year's defending league champion in the semi-finals to advance to their championship-finals showdown with Woburn.
All 60 boys on the team participated in match play competition throughout the season. About half the boys participated in varsity team matches, while all participated in team developmental in-house matches, said Korik.
