Spring Lake Park boys' tennis rebuilds with youth, new faces from other sports

When Darnelle Lyng clinched a victory at No. 2 singles against Fridley on April 6, the rest of the Spring Lake Park boys' tennis team rushed the court and celebrated with its confused teammate.

"It was snowing so … I was thinking, 'I probably should start playing a little faster,' " Lyng said. "At the end, everybody was jumping on me. I was so confused, and then they were like, 'We won.' "

Lyng's victory was personally special, after transferring from Fridley after his sophomore year. It also was the deciding factor in the Panthers' 4-3 victory, their first after a winless 2015 season.

Panthers coach Mark Fierst said he hopes the victory bodes well for the young team. After an 0-18 season in 2015 with 16 players on the roster, Spring Lake Park has an unprecedented 41 participants filling three levels of teams this season.

Fierst said the eight eighth-graders playing this year are the most he's had in 10 years of coaching. He added the Panthers are also comprised of about eight to 10 multisport athletes who joined the team with no experience after quitting other spring sports.

"They're guys that can just pick up a racket and go to a court and hit with each other. … They generally are able to pick up things a lot sooner and they're just used to being coached," Fierst said. "You [can] kind of start to see maybe there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel here."

The new multisport athletes include senior Aaron Furlano, who was the goaltender on the Panthers boys' hockey team this season and is now playing in the doubles exhibition spot on the varsity roster. They also have brought a new energy to the team that was missing during last season's struggles.

"It's had a crazy effect on the team, just from a competitive standpoint," Fierst said. "We're a tennis team, which historically has the tennis etiquette, but we've developed more of that football mindset. Really trying to cheer on guys and yell. … It's quite different from teams that I've had in the past."

Lyng said the energy was amplified by the early success this season.

"When we got on the bus, everybody was screaming, getting hyped up, and it was just so much fun to be in that atmosphere," Lyng said. "Everybody's just pumped up for tennis after that win."

Sophomore Matt Aribowo, who is filling the No. 1 singles slot again this season, said it's been a welcome change of pace for the Panthers.

"There's nothing to lose since we're an up-and-coming team. … I think we deserved [the win]. Our guys showed a lot of fight, a lot of resiliency, and our hard work paid off," Aribowo said. "Last year was kind of rough having not won a match. You have to have a mindset that we're going through a rebuilding season."

Fierst insists that Spring Lake Park is still in a rebuilding phase.

"I removed expectations. … That was one of the things from last year, you just developed," Fierst said. "I think we know that we're going to lose more than we're going to win this year, and this might be our only win, we don't know. But I think that the mentality … is definitely one that can grow."

Lyng said the mentality of teamwork and having fun reduces stress about the losing record.

"Coach Fierst, he would talk about how we're just rebuilding," Lyng said. "So people still wanted to win, but they weren't as worried about losing as much as trying to get better and trying to play smarter and develop as players."

The new team chemistry also plays into one of Fierst's goals of developing the team into a competitive force for years to come.

"We can have numbers out, but if they're not having fun, they won't want to play again and they won't want to tell their friends," Fierst said. "It's a very pivotal year for us to make sure that those guys have a good experience. … It's becoming more of a legitimate sport, one that's developing hopefully a little more respect [at Spring Lake Park]."

Kaitlin Merkel is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.