By Tom Flanagan
SOUTH HADLEY, MA – After 20 years of trying and coming up short, you can’t blame Paul Siegenthaler for being in a fog days after his team finally accomplished its goal.
"I’m still flying high," said Siegenthaler, a resident of Needham, MA. "I think all the guys are. This is a great feeling and we’re all really excited."
Siegenthaler and his team captured the USTA New England 3.5 Championship last week at Mount Holyoke College and, in the process, punched their ticket to a League National Championships appearance Oct. 29-31 in Tucson.
Siegenthaler, the team’s longtime captain, has certainly paid his dues over the years and has seen his team leave the court heart-broken after coming within a sliver of reaching the National Championships.
In 2007, his team reached the Section Championships, played well and lost on the first tie-breaker.
Siegenthaler had a hunch that this year’s team would be a contender, despite the large turnover of players from seasons past.
"We have our clear No. 1 players, but there’s a lot of parity throughout the roster and everyone can play," he said.
Siegenthaler was on the court Sunday playing doubles in what turned out to be a pivotal match in terms of deciding a champion.
"I actually didn’t know how close it was," he said. "I had an idea that we might be in a good position, but I think it was better that we didn’t know, so we wouldn’t have the nerves. We actually didn’t find out we had taken it until we got off the court."
The victory set off a large and boisterous celebration among the players and their friends and families and marked the first time any of the 12 players on the roster would make an appearance at the National Championships.
Siegenthaler’s decisions as a captain have been made of equal parts facts and feelings over the years, and prior to the start of postseason, he opted to form a doubles team of Needham residents Alex Walley and Brett Holmes.
That team has gone unbeaten (8-0) in the playoffs.
While talent and desire helped the team to a District title, Siegenthaler believes it may have been the team’s method of practicing that got it over the proverbial hump.
"A lot of the guys who were on the 2007 team moved up to 4.0, and they have a pretty competitive team of their own," Siegenthaler said. "We practiced against them a lot and that really helped out."
The team will continue to play against their friends from the 4.0 level until it leaves for Tucson.
The team also includes Ben Marsh, Martin Spielmann, Tom Higgins, Randal Noller, David Harris and Steven Massey, all of Needham and David Wolicki (Canton), David Randa (Sherborn) and Tim Andreae (West Newton).