NU tennis struggles to draw support

When there's a touchdown the stadium erupts and the canons fire. When there's a goal in hockey the crowd roars and music is blared. When there's a home run the fans cheer. But when there's an ace in tennis, there's only silence.

"We don't get much fan support because we are a unique sport, especially to the state of Vermont. Our sport focuses more on the individual's play to help our team win," said Colin Hyte, 20, a junior communications major from Marblehead, Mass.

The Norwich men's tennis team knows it competes for fan support against much more popular sports.

"It's really hard, when you're facing a tough opponent and things just don't seem to be going your way, to find it in you to overcome it. It would be so much easier to look over and have fans there to cheer you on and pick you up when things are down," said Brandon Carver, 20, a freshman architecture major from Frankfurt, Ky.

The team realizes it's hard to make fans excited about tennis, especially when just a year ago the team was raising money and fighting to keep the program alive.

"We know it's hard to draw interest to tennis," Hyte said, "especially when there's the baseball and lacrosse teams playing at the same time, but we know fans or no fans we will play each match for each other."

The Cadets are coming off a successful campaign last season where they had a record of 7-4 overall and 1-3 inside the Great Northern Athletic Conference (GNAC). But they know there is room for improvement and hope that improvement can generate a much larger fan base.

"We are a very young team this year, but that's no reason why we can't win the GNAC and go undefeated," said Luis Galvez, 22, a senior construction engineer management major from Guatemala. "As long as we work hard every day and play our best every match we can get fans very interested."

Fans or no fans, the Cadets have a goal that drives them as they prepare for the upcoming season.

"Getting fans interested in our program would be nice, but we aren't playing for the fans; we are playing to win the GNAC and that's all that's on our minds right now," Hyte said.

Practice is the only thing that will get them there.

"We practice everything, and have to make sure everything is done correctly in order to play to the best of our ability," said Joe Dvorac, 19, a freshman studies in world peace major from Portland, Maine.

The Cadets kick off their 2011 campaign on March 9 at Castleton. The Cadets know they have to get off to a fast start so fans can get behind them early and continue their success to maintain those fans.

"We want to start strong this season and a win over Castleton would be a great way to kick off the season and make it a memorable one for our program," Hyte said.

The Cadets hope to be undefeated when they come home and face Castleton on March 31 for their home opener.

"I speak for all of us when I say we are hoping a lot of fans come out and support us through what we hope is a championship season," Hyte said.