As the cliche goes, all good things must come to an end.
The No. 28 Trojans fell 5-0 to the No. 13 South Bend St. Joe Indians in the IHSAA Regional Tuesday. The Indians will take on South Bend Penn on Wednesday in the Regional Final, who defeated LaPorte 4-1.
Chesterton completes 2021 with a 13-4 overall record with three of those losses coming to state-ranked teams (St. Joe, Culver, Munster). The JV had a great season as they finished 9-2 overall and were unbeaten in the conference.
Along with the Trojan’s 13 wins, they swept all of their conference foes and won the Duneland Athletic Conference for the second year in a row.
They didn’t let their conference title get to their heads as just a week later they defeated Portage & Valparaiso each by a score of 5-0 to earn the Sectional Title.   A title they haven’t won in two years.
St. Joe won each position in straight sets, but Chesterton’s fight never let up until the final ball was stuck.
“The amount of times coach Scott and myself get compliments about our team’s intensity, effort and attitudes were off the charts this season,” said coach Tom Bour.  “St. Joe is a great program and has been setting the standard in this region for a while now, but each time we play them the boys are up to the challenge and today was no different.  We were very happy with our efforts and this loss doesn’t ruin what a great season these boys had.”
Chesterton will lose to graduation Drake Redman (#2), David Archbald (#1D), Connor Potesta (#2D), Mark Jewison (JV-1D) and Grant Flesher (#2D). Returning from it’s post-season roster are Fabio Haiduc (#1), Brock Redman (#3), Connor Engels (#1D), Ian Condes (#2D & #3S), Paul Scott (#1 JV), Jai Barath (#2 JV), Gavin Rivera (#1D-JV and Max Haughtington (#2D-JV).
“I think we are a lot deeper than we ever have been as a program.  The JV was undefeated in the conference and several of them earned varsity letters this year.  As it is in any good program, the key to 2022 will be our off season work ethic,” said coach Bour.
The Trojan’s top singles player, Fabio Haiduc, caps off his Junior season with a record of 16-7 and he’ll be looking to improve on those marks in his senior season next fall.  Drake Redman dominated the No.2 spot all season with a record of 18-3, with all three of his losses coming to SB St. Joe.  For Haiduc & D.Redman, post-season state honors are in their future with those meetings & decisions coming late next week.
Sophomore Brock Redman moved from No.1 Doubles to No. 3 singles towards the end of the season and finished 7-1 at the 3-spot.  Brock Redman’s versatility and fight made him a great addition in the singles game along with Haiduc, D.Redman and Junior Ian Condes.
David Archbald and Connor Engels closed out the season together at the top-doubles-spot and played some of their best tennis down the stretch.  The No. 2 team of Connor Potesta and Ian Condes were 4-3 together and won some big matches for the Trojans once paired up.
“It was great to see our doubles playing better and starting to understand the game better as the season went on.  They had to deal with different partners and different positions the last few weeks and I think they handled it very well,” said coach Bour. “We think Engels can be a great doubles player and he’s already one of our team captains, so the sky is the limit on him.  Condes is so important to us as a team, because of his ability to play singles or doubles and show up and do his job no matter where he plays.”
Chesterton will head into the off-season looking for the players to fill those senior’s shoes and looking for players to keep the conference teams looking up at CHS and also keeping the Sectional title in Chesterton’s hands.