The Westminster boys again have an embarrassment of riches as they prepare to defend the state tennis title. The Wildcats, who won the Region 6-4A title on Tuesday, will be the heavy favorite to win the Class 2A championship next month in Rome.
“It took us a while to establish our starting lines, but I’m very happy with what we have,” coach Ralph Geeza said.
The Wildcats have lost only one match all season, falling to powerful Greater Atlanta, a favorite to win the Class 5A championship. They defeated Holy Innocents’ for the region title and will play Southwest DeKalb in the first round of the state tournament.
Westminster is the two-time defending state champion. The Wildcats also won it all from 2000-09 and 2011-17.
The lineup has a familiar look from last year’s state title team, but some of the players are in a different role.
Charlie Burdell is back at No. 1 singles. Burdell, the AJC’s Player of the Year in 2022, has had to fight off his twin brother Jack to nail down the top position. Both juniors played No. 1 in tournaments before Geeza decided to put Charlie at No. 1 and Jack at No. 2.
“We’ve flipped and flopped,” Geeza said. “We had spring break in March and had to firm things up. That’s when we went to Charlie at No. 1. He had been playing well and his rankings had gotten tangibly better. But we couldn’t go wrong either way.”
Jack Burdell played No. 1 doubles a year ago. By moving him to the singles lineup, the Wildcats were able to slide Evan Le from No. 2 to No. 3 singles to create an overpowering group.
The No. 1 doubles team is George Mattie, who played there with Burdell last year, and junior Ryan Sager. The No. 2 doubles team is senior Kanav Kakkar and freshman Landon Cummings, one of four promising freshmen on the team.
The team has also had to deal with an injury to Geeza, who required knee surgery after an awkward fall. He has gotten a boost from JV coach Jason Vuckovic and John Pinckney, a former Westminster standout. Geeza is expected to be cleared by his doctor to attend the state tournament, if the Wildcats qualify.
