By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Ian Dillman wants to put his personal stamp on the program that produced him.
Dillman, a 2018 graduate at Bedford North Lawrence who played college tennis at IU East, takes over his alma mater for 2024. He inherits a roster with no seniors, with three returning starters from last season, with a chance to make his mark as he takes over the program reins from Chris Kurtz.
“It’s a blessing, I love it,” Dillman said. “It’s one thing I always wanted to do. I’ve been blessed to give lessons with these guys, so I love to spread my knowledge to these players.
“I see it as a growing year, finding out how I can make this my own program, building it up from Ground Zero. I’m excited to work from the ground up.”
The foundation will be doubles, where most of BNL’s experience can be found. Dillman is counting on juniors Orion Hill (who finished last season at No.2 singles) and Neal Patel (who was at No.1 doubles) to anchor that side of the lineup, although they will get a challenge for the top spot from Micah Carter and Laedon Jones.
On the singles side, which is still a mystery as the Stars (who went 8-15 a year ago) start their second week of practice sessions before the season opener, sophomore Jackson Corey will be competing for a spot after playing No.2 doubles last year.
Dillman’s first priority will be getting the Stars out of their ‘quiet zone.’
“For me, it’s team bonding, being loud and proud of where they come from, for their school and team,” Dillman said. “That’s one thing we are really working on, cheering for themselves and their team. A lot of our guys are quiet, so I’m getting into that energy. In high school, it’s low energy, where in college everyone is hooping and hollering.”
BNL will open the campaign at Linton on Saturday.
