CHS Boys Tennis Posts One other Winning Season, Fueled by Enjoyable, Meals and Teamwork

Columbia High School’s boys tennis workforce has as soon as once more posted a successful season, with a 14-7 report and an NJSIAA sectionional championship.

In the sectional closing in opposition to Westfield on Tuesday, Columbia gained 4 of the 5 matches, sweeping each doubles competitions and taking two of three singles matches.  On Thursday, they’ll face Livingston within the semi-fianls of the state championship match.

For the Cougars, who play within the state’s high division, this season been one other addition to a string of successful seasons below Head Coach Steven Reichenstein, whose teaching philosophy is enjoyable, meals, and STATS, an acronym that stands for Sportsmanship, Teamwork, Attitude, Tactics and Strategy.

The Cougars have loved 4 consecutive successful seasons, however have nonetheless confronted adversity alongside the best way, equivalent to renovations to city tennis courts and losses within the sectional finals in each spring and fall of 2025.

“We’ve responded to adversity the same way we respond to any match challenge: We play tennis. We reach out to the tennis community for support. We try new things. We figure it out. We let the court speak,” Reichenstein stated.

“Winning is a process,” stated Reichenstein “We play to have fun and we get better by playing. It’s all about having lots of good food and having as much fun as possible competing and hanging out with each other.”

Reichenstein stated the teammates owe their success to their confidence, and believes that “the ingredients are all here.”

After dropping two of the primary three video games (every sport is made up of 5 matches, 3 singles and a pair of doubles, and to win a sport, the workforce has to win the vast majority of matches), the Cougars bounced again with a dominant 5-game successful streak, dropping simply two matches alongside the best way. Prior to the sectional tourney sport win, the workforce had gained 6 of the final 11 video games and 4 of the final 5. This included a sectional quarterfinal win in opposition to Piscataway, the place they gained all 5 matches to advance to the semi-finals.

The workforce has been led by Vaughn Lee (‘26), who performs 1st singles, and Riley Sayers (‘27) who performs 2nd singles. On the doubles finish, the workforce has been anchored by 1st doubles pair Oliver Grauman (‘26) and Mason Beaupierre (‘27).

Grauman stated they owe their success to their depth and confidence.

“One of Columbia’s strengths has always been the depth of our team,” Grauman stated. “How tight we are as a team … gives our younger players an opportunity to grow alongside a strong and healthy squad and feel confident enough to bring us a win.”

For Grauman and Reichenstein, love of the sport runs deep.

Grauman bought into tennis via his dad and mom, whose love of tennis made him naturally gravitate in direction of the game. He loves that tennis permits him to have “complete control of my part of the game,” but additionally acknowledges the duty and burden of that individuality. “All of the mistakes and bad plays fall onto me, and there’s nobody to go through the rough points with,” he stated.

Reichsentein, however, bought into tennis at a camp, via a tennis teacher who made the sport enjoyable in a manner he had by no means skilled earlier than. For him, it’s the competitiveness that pulls him to the game.

“If I blew one point, I could even up the score by winning the next point,” he stated “I was never out until the match was over.”

Nelson Brinston is a twelfth grade pupil at Columbia High School who’s working with Village Green as a paid freelancer via a grant from the NJ Civic Information Consortium.