OCHS First Decade Teams
Dan Barrus was top Raider boys tennis player in First Decade!
By TOM WILLIAMS
Gazette Staff Writer
The First Decade of the 21st Century ended for the Ocean City High School boys
tennis team with the best season of the 10-year period. In fact, it was the best
season in 14 years.
A big reason was Dan Barrus, who is the OCHS Player of the Decade for 2000-09.
Barrus, who still has a year remaining in his high school career, was 21-3 in
2009 as the Raiders won a division championship, their first championship within
the Cape-Atlantic League since 1983. They also notched their first NJSIAA
Tournament win in 13 seasons.
Barrus will enter his senior year with 57 victories, placing him third on the
all-time OCHS list of winners. He trails Joe Carey (75) and Don Barton (65).
Barrus has been selected all-conference first team all three years.
Joining Barrus as singles players on the First Decade All Star Team are Matt Speed
and Erick Chalfin. Speed joined Barrus as the only two players to be the team's
significant No. 1 singles player in more than two seasons. He was 13-29 in his two
seasons. And Chalfin contributed at different levels over three seasons. He was 6-12
as a No. 1 player his senior year, 12-10 playing at No. 2 as a junior and 11-8 in
doubles as a sophomore.
Only those who played at No. 1 singles are generally considered for these all-decade
teams. Because the CAL has so many strong No. 1 singles players, the top players from
Ocean City frequently have not had winning records. But they were the best players
in the Raiders lineup.
In doubles, the two teams selected to the First Decade All Stars are Mike O'Neill
and Matt Piechoski from 2002 and Jim Dugan and Chris Mullan from 2004. O'Neill-Piechoski
were 15-6, the best record of any doubles team in the decade. Dugan and Mullan
combined for an 11-9 record and were chosen to the second team, all-conference in
the CAL. All together, with different teammates, Piechoski had 30 wins at doubles
and Dugan 25, the most of any OCHS players.
But the first decade of this century belonged to Dan Barrus in boys tennis. He joins
Joe Carey (90s), Brian King (80s) and Don Barton (70s) as Ocean City High School
Boys Tennis Players of the Decade.
OCHS Boys Tennis in the First Decade
Year....Record....Coach
2000.....3-15.......Phil Birnbaum
2001.....8-11.......George McNally
2002....13-9........George McNally
2003.....8-12.......George McNally
2004.....6-13.......George McNally
2005....13-7........George McNally
2006.....5-11.......George McNally
2007.....9-9........George McNally
2008.....7-11.......George McNally
2009....14-4........George McNally
The First Decade Raider Boys Tennis Team
Singles.....Dan Barrus (2009)
Singles.....Matt Speed (2002)
Singles.....Erick Chalfin (2003)
Doubles.....Mike O'Neill-Matt Piechoski (2002)
Doubles.....Jim Dugan-Chris Mullan (2004)