Boys tennis: Northwest season preview

Teams to watch

Prospect -- The defending MSL East champs boast a quality core of returning starters, including Tom Kujawa at No. 1, along with Zach Adamovic, Sam Pope and Ben Many, who all earned top-three finishes or better at the MSL tourney last season. Junior Kevin Baumhart, the Knights' starter at No. 3 singles, is also back. Bolstered by its conference championship at the JV level, the Knights' lineup will be energized by plenty of young hopefuls who look to contribute right away. An always-entertaining and challenging tournament schedule will help prepare the Knights, who look improve on back-to-back 3rd-place finishes at the MSL tourney.

Barrington -- No team in the area can match the tough non-conference schedule the reigning conference champs have ahead of them, which means Barrington head coach John Roncone will lean heavily on his best two returning players in Matt Barns and Alex Nemz, who each are two-time state qualifiers. The Broncos' coaching staff will be hard-pressed to replace four-year singles veteran Patrick Lee, now at Yale, in addition to doubles state qualifiers Mike Hyrczyk and Andrew Wyhinny, but overall depth at doubles with 2007 MSL doubles champs Greg Mulligan and John Masellli will make the transition a little easier.

Fremd -- The MSL runner-up Vikings feature the best 1-2 punch at singles in the league with senior Brian Piotrowski, who gained all-state honors at doubles with partner John Rosencrans last year, and sophomore sensation Kenta Shimizu, who parlayed his MSL crown at No. 3 singles into a state appearance two weeks later. Vikings head coach Ken Goettsche says Piotrowski spent long hours fine-tuning his forehand during the off-season to complement a dangerous backhand already in place, while Shimizu is very close to his teammate in challenge matches. While the doubles lineup lacks star-power this year, Goettsche suggests there might be more depth at all four flights instead.

St. Viator -- First-year head coach Dan Tripamer inherits a club that went 8-1 in the ESCC and is poised to unlock the stranglehold Benet has had over its league rivals since 1991. With state singles runner-up Connor Roth graduated, Benet's loss is the Lions gain with four-year star Andrew Rice ready to jump to the head of the class after finishing second behind Roth twice in the ESCC finals. A gallant run to his first-ever state appearance is likely to fuel the best season ever for Rice, who along with sophomore Taylor Blaney gives the Lions a powerful twosome at the singles position. The return of Josh Concon (No. 3 singles) and Mike Zielinski (No. 1 doubles) enhances the lineup that much more.

Teams to surprise

Buffalo Grove -- Back after a two-year hiatus on the club circuit, 2006 MSL champ (No. 2) Jonah Schwartz gives the Bison strength at singles as he teams with senior Yuriy Nartov, who finished 3rd last year at No. 2 singles at the MSL tourney.

Hersey -- Two years ago Elk Grove came out of the pack to surprise the field when it would tie Buffalo Grove for 4th at the MSL tournament. The Huskies could follow the Grens' recent success as coach Matt Norris welcomes back six starters, including No. 1 doubles team and captains Sean Thompson and Ryan Leverenz as well as Eric Klawitter and Derek Albright, who would finish 5th at No. 3 doubles.

Must-see viewing

April 3: Benet at St. Viator -- The ESCC race could be decided in the first week of the season.

April 12: Huskie/Knights Invite -- Area teams get a look at central Illinois power Bloomington, which travels north to see Barrington, Hersey, Prospect, Highland Park, Libertyville and Oak Park-River Forest.

April 19: Hinsdale Central -- The tournament season begins to heat up as Barrington is part of an elite field, which includes the defending state champion Red Devils along with powers Deerfield, Highland Park, Lyons, Oak Park-River Forest, New Trier and Warren.

April 19: Buffalo Grove Bison Invite -- St. Viator makes it first appearance at a major invite in recent history when it joins, among others, Stevenson and Glenbard North.

April 25-26: The Pitchford 32 -- This mini-state tournament is the preview to the big show just a few weeks later and features all of the heavyweights in the state for the top three in the MSL (Barrington, Fremd, Prospect) to see up close and personal.

May 8-10: MSL, NSC, ESCC, CSL tournaments.

Game, set, match

Moments after Hinsdale Central captured its state title last May, the Red Devils were quickly tagged the favorite to carry away the big trophy again this spring.

Not so fast.

With talented doubles player Henry Krucho not returning and state runner-up Stevenson welcoming back two-time state qualifier Chris Speer, the Patriots now have the firepower to separate these two sides come tournament time.

Speer, who had added a big-time serve to his arsenal while away on the club circuit, joins Blake Bazarnik, who looks to improve on his fifth-place finish at the state tournament in his rookie season. The Speer-Bazarnek duo rivals Hinsdale's Augie Bloom and Krishna Ravella as the state's top two singles pairs, while the Patriots' Allen Pukshansky, Richard Brej and a pair of USTA-ranked freshmen will look to add plenty of victories throughout the season.

Although 2007 state champ Evan King (Payton) chose not to return for his junior year and Glenbrook South star Ben Hoogland followed the same path, the singles field is not void of state medalist hopefuls.

Bazarnik and Bloom will be joined by third-place medalist Denis Bogatov (Warren) and Mac McAnulty (Latin), Michael Moore (Glenbrook South) and Drew Feder of Belleville East, who were among the top eight finishers last year.

Eric Spector (Glenbrook North) returns to the Spartans for his senior season and earns immediate consideration at a top-five finish off of his third-place finish two years ago.

For the first time in recent memory, the race for the doubles title is up for grabs after each of the top eight teams have either graduated together or have been broken apart by graduation.

Krucho and sophomore Dan Ballantine would have been the highest rated pair to return, but watch for Michael Jacobs to team with Tim Martin at Oak Park-River Forest; Highland Park senior Ben Woldenberg to partner with veteran Marcus Ampon; and incoming USTA-rated freshmen Alec Siegel and Ben Shklyar at Deerfield.

Returning all-state teams Ryan Williams-Kevin Prescott (Latin) and Scott Shepardson-Austin Roos head a wide-open field, but the likelihood of several coaches mixing and matching their doubles teams on the weekend and leading up to the '32' is great and should provide some interesting some interesting chatter throughout the season.

Within the area, look for Barns and Nemz to play together at Barrington while Stevenson's Brej and Pukshansky seem to be a likely pair.

-- Compiled by Mike Garofola