For the last 15 years or so, it's been almost a given that any Northern Nevada boys' tennis player fortunate enough to qualify for the state tournament was going to need nothing short of a miracle to advance past the first round.
And you could forget about any talk of winning the state title.
That is, until last weekend.
Douglas High sophomore James TenBroeck, fresh on the heels of winning the school's first regional title since the mid-1980s, advanced through all three rounds of the NIAA State Tennis Championships at the Ron Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas without losing a set to claim the state title.
TenBroeck didn't lose a set during the regional or state tournaments and is believed to be the first Northern Nevada male to win the state title since 1994 and the first male from Douglas High to do it since 1974 (Jim Anderson). He finished the season with a spotless 20-0 record and is now 46-3 in his high school career.
"It means a lot for me to win state as a sophomore," TenBroeck said. "That was my goal for the year. A lot of people from the south didn't know who I was since I'm only a sophomore, so I think that at the beginning I caught them by surprise."
TenBroeck swept past The Meadows' Max Novak 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.
"James dominated Novak from start to finish with well-constructed points and overpowering serves," Douglas coach Rod Smith said.
Things got tougher in the semifinals on Saturday as he got past Centennial's J.C. Pauli 6-4, 6-2.
"Pauli is a talented and highly-rated player in the south, but he came up short because of James' ability to win the big points," Smith said. "James did two things very well: 1. He did not force shots. 2. When he did have the opportunities, he went on the offense without hesitation."
TenBroeck said his back-to-back-to-back straight-sets sweeps were not as easy as the score might indicate.
"I definitely had to play my best tennis to beat the players from the south,"
TenBroeck said. "Even though I didn't lose a set, there were a lot of sets that were really close. But I won the crucial points.
"My serve was really on and I got a lot of easy points from it which really took a lot of stress off the other parts of my game.
"To win state, I knew I couldn't just sit back at the baseline and play defensively, so I forced the action with my power backhands and forehands and followed it up to the net if I needed to."
He also battled with a large blister on his right hand, which he said didn't bother him too much once the adrenaline kicked in.
TenBroeck sealed the championship with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Bishop Gorman's Kyle DelRosario. He had to come back from a 3-0 deficit in the tiebreaker to win.
"In order to win this match, James needed to be patient and willing to use all of the specialty skills: drop shots, offensive lobs, overheads and spin serves," Smith said. "His opponent was very quick and had an excellent counterpunch, but James' overall game was just too good.
"I asked James after the match what he was thinking when he was down 0-3. He said that there was no way he wanted the match to go to the third set and was thinking of how to construct some points to take over."
TenBroeck, who started playing tennis at the age of 3, said he was particularly thankful for the coaching he's received over the years.
"Thanks to Bill Welch for being my coach since I was a little kid and to Kurt Richter who has been working with me for about six months and really improved my game."
Welch had two other students competing at the state championships over the weekend - regional champion Kari TenBroeck and regional runner-up Amelia Ritger.
TenBroeck lost to Spring Valley's Tiffany Tavares 6-3, 6-1 in the first round and Ritger lost to Bishop Gorman's Anita Lee 6-2, 6-0 in the first round.
Smith noted that the Ron Darling Tennis Center, with is 23 lighted courts main court with a capacity of 2,000, has become the hub of youth tennis in the Las Vegas area.
"That's the south's tennis factory," Smith said. "In Douglas County, our factory begins and almost ends with one man: Bill Welch. His dedication to youth tennis in our area has produced a number of successful players."
