NW suburbs boys tennis notes: Barrington, Stevenson among teams to watch

Here's a look at some storylines as the boys tennis season heads into conference, sectional and state tournaments the next couple weeks.

BARRINGTON

Barrington, third in the state in Class 2A a year ago, is off to a good start this year.

John Roncone, in his 22nd season as the Broncos head coach, boasts one of the top players in the state in Deven Carse who was fourth in the state in singles as a junior.

Hadi Dossani is the other top singles player. Gabe Mills and Shiv Sastry are others to watch.

Barrington was third at the Benet Invitational.

CONANT

The Cougars have a solid lineup under the guidance of Matt Marks.

Conant's top singles players are Srish Vijay, Kiril Anastasov and Aayash Maniar, first through third, respectively.

Conant's doubles duos consist of Vivek Sharma-Saksham Gupta (No. 1); Koko Anastasov-Rady Kolev (No. 2); Krish Bothra-Marc Fernandes (No. 3) and Samarth Nadgir-Anay Maheshwari (No. 4).

"We compete in the extremely talented MSL," said Marks. "We want to challenge and push the top teams in the state and conference. We want to qualify as many players for state as possible."

FREMD

Vikings coach Johnny Kent doesn't shy away from tough competition.

Not only does Kent's troops play in the rugged MSL, but they take on the state's top teams in invitationals.

New Trier, Hinsdale Central, Stevenson, Deerfield and Glenbrook North are some of the top teams in the state the Vikings have dueled with.

"We take our lumps and despite some of our losses our goals remain the same," said Kent. "We are battle tested but we know the areas we have to improve in. May will be a fun month."

Top singles player Andrew Spurck is 9-1 with his only loss to Barrington standout Deven Carse.

Number 2 singles player Shaswat Srivatsa has a 9-4 mark. The top doubles duo of Jason Sze-Amaye Shyam is 10-6.

GRANT

The Bulldogs are led by seniors Bryan Packard-David Pyo who are 6-3 at No. 2 doubles.

Grant, guided by Max Boton, is currently 2-5 overall and 2-3 in conference action.

GRAYSLAKE CENTRAL

Samay and Aashay Patel are the top singles players for the Rams coached by Chuck Lawson.

Vlad Miziuk and Anthony Shults comprise the top doubles team.

GRAYSLAKE NORTH

The Knights are 8-7 overall and 4-2 in the Lake County Conference.

Guided by Kate Levitt, Grayslake North is led by top singles player senior Varun Gullapalli who is 10-3.

HOFFMAN ESTATES

The Hawks' top singles players are Akhil Mallajosyula, Dhruv Chaudhari and Svar Pandya.

"We need to get healthy," said coach Ken Harris. "We need to play with more consistency. We want to accumulate as many team points as we can during the conference tournament."

LAKES

Kevin Celluci leads the Eagles with a 9-2 mark in singles action. The doubles team of Eric Bendall and Drew Chamernik is 6-8 at No. 1 doubles.

"We have seen some good players who should make it to state," said coach Bryan Plinske. "Crystal Lake Central and Wauconda are the top teams we have seen."

LIBERTYVILLE

Dan Kiernan's squad is led by the doubles team of Josh Dobrin and Jack Gerber who were fourth at the Prospect Invitational.

MAINE SOUTH

Hawks coach Gerald Smith has experimented with his players competing in both singles and doubles.

His top players are Nikita Stoyanov, Jack Hartung, Giona Maccaferri, Brandon Griffin and Walter Szulczewski.

Smith said the goals for the season are to keep improving and fine-tuning their game and tactics in preparation for conference and sectionals.

MAINE WEST

Tom Noonan and Keegan Fleckenstein are 6-6 at No. 2 and 3 singles, respectively. Pedro Fernandez is 5-7 at No. 1.

"We have been able to reschedule out cancellations," said coach John Hauenstein. "We had one fantastic week. Other than that, it feels like February remained around for two months."

MUNDELEIN

Senior Brandon Hinkle and junior Kurt Dumblauskas are 8-8 overall for the Mustangs, who are 6-9-1 overall.

Coach Greg Cohen is impressed with first-year player senior Andrew Hempsey, who is 13-8 overall while playing second and third doubles. The Mustangs are 6-9-1 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

Hempsey previously competed in soccer and bowling.

"At the urging of his friends he came out for tennis," said Cohen. "He is very competitive and athletic. He has an amazing learning curve. He continues to improve."

PALATINE

The Pirates under the guidance of JD Lange finished fourth at the Rolling Meadows Invitational.

Ravi Shah-Kyle Bargowski are 3-5 at No. 1 doubles. Martin Marinov and Nate Royer are 2-2 at No. 2 doubles.

Pablo Castro is 2-3 at No. 2 singles.

PROSPECT

The Knights are 8-2 overall and 2-1 in the Mid Suburban League East.

Prospect finished fourth in its own invitational behind powerhouses Barrington, New Trier and Highland Park.

Dave Motorga is 10-10 at No. 1 singles while at No. 1 doubles Sammy Hong and Dimitry Hutnyk are 9-5 and Allen Chennoth and Andrew Grove are 14-5.

"The outdoor season is always tough," said coach Brad Rathe. "It is a different sport from the indoor, You have to deal with the elements. These kids do a good job of embracing the difficulties."

STEVENSON

Patriots coach Isriz Balase is like a chemist working in a laboratory. He is doing a lot of experimenting.

It seems to be working. Stevenson is 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Lake County Conference.

Out of his top eight players, seven have played in both singles and doubles. Junior Alex Jang has posted an 8-3 doubles record and hasn't played singles.

Senior Ashy Madhuskar (3-3 singles, 1-0 doubles), senior Ervin Perkowski (2-0 singles, 6-2 doubles), senior Gauthan Kappaganthuh (1-0 singles, 4-2 doubles), sophomore Caden Zhao (2-4 singles, 5-0 doubles), sophomore Dustin Zhao (2-4, singles, 5-0 doubles) and freshman Jaden Dai 9-0 singles, 3-0 doubles) have been key for Stevenson.

The Patriots' best effort of the season came with a first place finish at the Deerfield Quadrangular.

"The weather has been more cooperative than normal," said Balase. "The players are seizing every opportunity to practice."

WARREN

The Blue Devils are led by Sam Bogot, Brandon Pasch, Yash Sharma, Archit Praskash, Arjun Shah and Evan Wong as they prepare for the rugged Class 2A Stevenson sectional.

WAUCONDA

Ben Volheim's troops are led by Chethan Nickerson who was third at the Prospect Invitational.