Scouting DuPage County and Fox Valley boys tennis

The high school boys tennis season has started. Here’s a look at what to expect in DuPage County and the Fox Valley.

AURORA CENTRAL CATHOLIC

First-year coach Tammy Whited's troops are led by senior Andrew Hipp, a four-year varsity performer. Fighting for playing time are sophomore Justin Biachi and freshmen Nick Hipp, Aiden Melekus, Leo Martinez, Dominic Buttice, Nick Ragsdale and Caleb Smith.

"It is a rebuilding season," said Whited. “We have the potential to finish in fifth or sixth in the conference. We will win some matches and learn and grow."

BARTLETT

The Hawks were 8-13 a year ago and finished third in the Upstate Eight Conference with juniors Ayyan Qureshi, Sonaansh Jhaven and Tej Patel and sophomore Oskar Tredota back from that team.

"We are hope to be competitive in the new West division and build off our third-place finish from last year,“ said coach Craig Cichowicz. "We have a solid foundation. We have players that are hungry and want to improve.”

BATAVIA

The Bulldogs, under the guidance of veteran coach Brad Nelson, were 5-2 in the DuKane Conference, fourth in the St. Charles North sectional and 36th at the Class 2A state tournament a year ago.

Senior Eric Otten and juniors Kush Adhvaryu and Lucas Hubert are back with a big group of newcomers including seniors Tyler Plocinski and Emery Miller, juniors Johnathan Folkers, Caleb Sharda and Kalvin Wolff and freshman Brayden Korn.

“The conference is more balanced," said Nelson, who mentioned the two St. Charles and two Wheaton schools as ones they have to beat to finish in the top half of the conference.

BENET ACADEMY

The Redwings, under 40th-year coach Michael Hand, won the East Suburban Catholic Conference, were second in the Benet 2A sectional and 20th in the state.

Back for Hand are senior singles player Pat Burke (top 32 in the state) and the senior doubles team Zach Bobofchak-Hugh Davis (top 24) plus junior Pete Charuk and sophomore Chuck Flavin.

"We want to finish first or second in the conference," said Hand. “We have a lot of experience at the top. We need younger players to fill in the depth."

CARY-GROVE

Experience might be the best word to describe the 2025 Cary-Grove boys tennis team. The Trojans, who tied for the Fox Valley Conference championship and were second in dual meets in 2024, won the Cary-Grove Bud Lachel and Carmel Invitationals.

C-G (19-4 in dual meets) is led by seniors Ryan Dixon (28-8), Jackson Karlovsky (20-8), Leo Petropoulos (22-5), Lincoln Karlovsky (16-10) and Bryce Shechtman (17-17), along with juniors Chris Ptaszek (18-12), Kyle Nygren (11-4) and Halen Young (6-1) and sophomore Owen Lonergan (7-6).

Newcomers include junior Mason Rebscher and sophomores Finnegan Karlovsky and Joe Riedel.

"We have all our singles players back but have lost some key doubles players at the top of the lineup,“ said coach Amanda Schuetzle. ”Our goal every year is to finish in the top three in the conference. If we work as hard as we can we attain those goals. We are striving to steal a few unexpected wins."

CRYSTAL LAKE SOUTH

Second-year coach Mark Scheurich returns Class 1A state qualifiers juniors Zeke Boldman and Eryk Bucior. The Gators hope to improve on a 4-10 overall mark and 1-7 record in the Fox Valley Conference. Sputh finished 55th in the state.

The Gators also have juniors Bayel Muktar and Fletcher Kmitta and sophomore Jake Pasek back while adding junior Deyan Milushev and freshmen Nazar Muktar and Charlie Santarelli.

"We want to compete more consistently in the FVC," said Scheurich. “We want to improve our position from last season in the conference. The three singles positions should be competitive. Doubles will be all new player rotations. We have athletic players who are ready to show what they are capable of."

DOWNERS GROVE NORTH

The Trojans return senior Ronnie O Driscoll and add freshmen Ty Nguyen and Tyler Anderson.

DOWNERS GROVE SOUTH

The Mustangs, who won their fifth West Suburban Conference Gold title a year ago, were third at the 2A Lyons sectional and 20th at state.

Coach Josh Forst returns senior Alessio Lobello and junior Koko Dimitrakakos and adds freshman Ryan Roumenov.

"We want to compete with the top teams in the area and compete with the best players in the state,“ Forst said. ”We want to win a sixth straight Gold Division champion. Hinsdale South will be a tough opponent. We look forward to the challenge."

DUNDEE-CROWN

Sophomore singles player Aarav Shah qualified for the 2A state meet as a freshman last year, and the Chargers (7-6) also return seniors Casey McKinney and Jackson Baird, juniors Cavan Svec and Pranav Saravanan and sophomore Sebastian Llovona.

"We are building our team from last year and are pushing for more victories," said coach Yuto Tsukida. “The kids are hoping to improve their game and rise to the challenge.”

ELGIN

The Maroons return seniors Aadi Sanghavi, Aayush Patel and Jacob Sales along with junior Tim Cellar and sophomore Abhinav Arvind. Coach Sonepheth Rattana has upgraded the schedule adding St. Charles North, St. Charles East, Geneva and Batavia.

"We have a lot of new faces competing at the varsity level for the first time," said Rattana. “We look to see them grow throughout the season.”

FENTON

The Bison return senior Andrei Toader and Frederico Martell, juniors Angel Lemus, Sean Saltenberger, Baldemar Velasquez, Kacper Grych and Piotr Szostek and sophomores Garrett Wawczak and Braden Laurie. Freshman Kyle Saltenberger joins the team.

"We want to finish in the top four in the conference,“ said coach Jeff Porto.

GENEVA

Senior Tyler Masoncup, a two-time state qualifier, was 20-15 a year ago. Tyler's brother sophomore Aaron Masoncup (16-15 in doubles) was a state qualifier in doubles play as a freshman.

Others back for the Vikings, 36th in Class 2A, are seniors Xander Mercado (16-10), Tyler Hogan, Connor Levin and Grayson Gaerlin, juniors Kirill Lunin and Will Hansberger along with sophomore Robbie Keller (16-7).

Newcomers include sophomores Tyler Haney and Will Perez along with freshman Levi Tucker.

"We want to compete for a conference title," said coach Ryan Barabasz. “We want a better record in the conference and dual meets. We have a slew players who have played two to three years at the varsity level. As a team we have a healthy mixture of experience and new players."

GLENBARD EAST

The Rams, champions of the Upstate Eight and 47th in the state in 2A, are led by junior state qualifier Finn Talbot.

Seniors Alex Cook and Jonas Ong along with juniors Arnav Hegta, Evan Fine, Alek Jovanovic Giuseppe Maltese and Aidan Walsh all return while the Rams add junior Aaron Hallerud and sophomore Gabe Milian.

"We are the defending conference champions and we are working hard to defend that title," said coach Kyle Black. “We want to improve our sectional standing and are aiming to send multiple players to the state finals.”

GLENBARD NORTH

The Panthers return seniors Eddie Morales and Frank Jaszka and juniors Josh Idiyaly and Andrew Murkowski.

"We have solid returners who worked hard in the off-season," said first-year coach Kevin Tonn. “They improved their games and will keep getting better and will be competitive in a talented conference."

GLENBARD SOUTH

Senior state qualifier Jordan Abbot led the Raiders last year as the team finished second in the Upstate Eight Conference behind Glenbard East.

"We want Jordan to make it to the state weekend," said coach Wade Hardtke.

Seniors Jon Park and Haras Basha also return, and seniors Omar Said and Namut Mehta along with juniors Ashrith Valluri and Alex Long, sophomore Simon Kubik and freshmen Andrew Benesch, Cameron Abbot and Amir Mehta join the mix.

"We want to battle for the conference championship," said Hardtke. “We have new faces on the varsity roster. The team success is how the young talent can adapt to high school tennis."

GLENBARD WEST

The Hilltoppers return the junior state qualifying doubles team of Nick Harding and Charlie McDonald from a team that was 5-5 in the rugged West Suburban Silver, third in the sectional and 36th in Class 2A.

Four-year varsity player Garrett French is only senior back, but the Hilltoppers also have juniors Noah Guzman and Kevin Pinto, and sophomores Cormac Annan, Charlie Moscicki, Duncan Rowley and Adler Wong.

"We want to capitalize on our own invitationals schedule to cut our teeth to get wins. We want to be competitive in conference matches," said coach Tad Keely.

HAMPSHIRE

The Whip-Purs (7-6) under first-year coach Jonathan Okon return seniors Braden Koffen (2023 state qualifier), Chris Roth, Joaquin Cortes, Jake Notter and Brayden Bowgren and add sophomore Jake Cho and freshman Carter Dustin..

"The FVC will be competitive again," said Okon. “The experienced seniors will play a crucial role mentoring and developing the younger talent. We believe we have improved in every position."

HINSDALE CENTRAL

The 3-time defending Class 2A state champion Red Devils certainly have the talent to win a fourth consecutive crown.

Coach Peter Alex returns senior Nathan Hernandez who was fourth in the state in singles a year. The junior duo of Barry Zhu and Nick Marringa placed fourth in doubles and senior Bodie Teuscher was a state qualifier in singles.

Alex has plenty of experience in the cupboard spearheaded by seniors Andy Buchupalli, Quintin Crisotomo, Eshan Doshi, Ibrahim Khan, Zuhayr Khan, Jim Philipneri (Lehigh), Nikhil Raichand, Issaac Schloegel, Riyan Shah and Winston Stangle along with juniors Evan Lin and Nick Perrelli and sophomores Amir Khan, Patrick Wang, Vedh White and Richard Zhang. Newcomers include junior Konrad Wencel, sophomores Braden LeBaron and Jim Stangle and freshmen Avinash Buchapalli, Anik Shirsat and David Waterman.

"It would be wonderful to win the Silver division again," said Alex. “There are some other great schools in the division. Our goal has our sights on another state championship."

HUNTLEY

The Red Raiders were fifth in the Fox Valley Conference regular season and fifth in the FVC conference tournament last year, led by junior state qualifier Will Geske.

Huntley also returns juniors Habib Holloway and Eashan Churikari and sophomores Tanush Gulatti, Vivek Yandamura, Ritwuk DePala and Leo Medina while adding freshmen James Doughty, Adam Stec and Ethan Cronin.

"We have a very young team," second-year coach Kris Grabner said. “We want to finish in the top three in the conference.”

JACOBS

Under veteran coach Jon Betts, who has fashioned a 681-225 record in 20 years as the Golden Eagles boys and girls tennis coach, the Eagles posted a 26-6 overall record and 7-1 Fox Valley Conference mark in 2024.

Winners of the FVC regular season and conference tournament, the Eagles return state qualifiers August Nelson (Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and Ryan Fulton, both seniors, and junior Soham Kalra.

Other returners with experience are seniors Rudra Rathod and Brennen Miller, junior Zach Hallenbeck and sophomores Ronnav Deshmukh and Jack Soto. The Golden Eagles add juniors JJ Jones, Brendan Mau, Dylan Heard and Kurtis Kornatoski, sophomores Gio Giacomino and Lyon Sapenhila and freshmen Sammy Santa-Ines, Daryan Do and Svilen and Surlen Kolev.

"We had a strong run in the FVC at the end of the season," said Betts. “We are expecting to field a team capable of winning the FVC title. We have a hard working experienced group and a great group from the JV team. We have freshmen who will make an immediate impact."

LAKE PARK

The Lancers, under 14th-year coach Christian Pawlak, were fourth in the DuKane Conference a year ago, and they return seniors Kyle Petrovich, Lucas Jung and Michaelangelo DiNicola, junior Philip Dudka and sophomore Michael Cozzi.

MARMION ACADEMY

The Cadets are led by senior Ben Graft, who was the runner-up in Class 1A singles. Marmion finished seventh in the state with 12 points. The Cadets also have seniors Sam Lin, Andrew Mumford, Sam Pall, Owen Theriault and Jed Koss and juniors Owen Cousins, Jim Devaney, Lochlan Finnergan, Williams Klish and Jackson Washington.

"We have most starters back," said coach Brian Cole. “We want to finish in the top three in the conference."

Naperville Central

Naperville Central, 20th in Class 2A a year ago, returns seniors Christian Coleman and Oscar Riddle along with junior Nick Tangedahl and sophomore Jason Cheng.

Senior Jayden Louie, junior Isaac Lui, sophomores Tai Ngheim, Tien Ngheim and Sreeram Potnuru and freshman Adriel Jaithra Shreeram are all joining the varsity.

"We lost six seniors from last year," said coach Kevin Schillerstrom. “We are a very young team with very eager enthusiasm."

NAPERVILLE NORTH

The Huskies (8-4, 3-3 in the DVC) return senior Aurush Bhardwaj and sophomores Yanson Lew and Max Buxbaum while adding freshmen Joshie Eun, Kush Shah Rishi Karrapati and Aayash Puntambeker.

“We have a young, talented group ready to compete in the DVC," veteran coach Heather Henricksen, who is starting her 26th season.

NEUQUA VALLEY

The Wildcats hope to repeat as DuPage Valley Conference champs and win a fifth straight Class 2A sectional championship behind state qualifiers Andy Yu and Ricky Kim, both seniors. They also have seniors Evan Yang, Anthony Yang and Antiya Rackshif, juniors Boris Sirotkin and Ishaan Raghav and sophomores Jayden Chiou and Shaurya Kandhari.

Junior Alp Tunar and freshman Keshav Menon are new to the varsity.

"The DVC is always tough," said coach William Rose. “Most schools graduated key players. We expect competitive matches. We return a lot of players in top positions but have lost three of four doubles teams. That means players are going to have to step up.”

ST. CHARLES EAST

Coach Rob Livermore returns senior state qualifiers Alex Sternowski and Max Brockmeyer.

ST. CHARLES NORTH

The North Stars, 32nd in Class 2A, return state qualifiers Cole Weddle and Ben Goddard, both seniors, for coach Sean Masoncup, who has a 297-26 record in 15 years. They also welcome back seniors Cal Lewis and Jack Bambalas and junior Yaseen Khan.

"The conference should be wide open with all the teams being good and deep this season," said Masoncup. “We should be competitive even though we graduated a ton. It will be sort of a rebuilding season. We are hoping to defend back to back sectional titles."

ST. FRANCIS

The Spartans, 16th in 1A a year ago, are led by junior state qualifier Umar Bajwa, with seniors Jack Brink, Anthony King, Aedan Kuch, Blake Reynolds, Peter Williams and Peter Schneider, and juniors Ben Kolin, Henry Kopec, Brendan Leegen, Jackson Zeeman, Jack Benton, Tommy Kacedan and Joey Los battling for other spots in the lineup.

"We have a lot of depth in doubles," said coach Jon Kerchenski.

TIMOTHY CHRISTIAN

The Trojans graduated 9 seniors from last season's team which was 13-1 in dual meets and winners of the Chicagoland Christian Conference and St. Francis 1A sectional.

Timothy Christian does return junior state qualifier Elliott Tandy (28-8), and seniors Luke Tuchschrer, Timo Kacian, Tong Yang and Phil Wojciuk and junior Mattox Preitauer while adding junior Luke McCauley, sophomore Dan Alcnadra and freshmen Evan Styczyn and Merritt Stolzenbach.

"We are rebuilding with learning to have fun and have individual and team growth,“ said coach Richard McLean. ”Our individual and team growth will drive our success this spring season."

WAUBONSIE VALLEY

Veteran coach Phil Galow, 379-230-12, begins his 47th season coming off a 28th place finish in Class 2A.

The Warriors are led by junior Revanth Kothapalli who finished in the Top 24 in singles a year ago, and they also have seniors Eesa Nazir, Samayan Tayall and Sahan Tirukovalluru, along with juniors Jackson Denius, Hector Diaz, Prathyuman Gunniya, Gauthan Mani and Kailish Seshun, and sophomores Aarav Jhveri and Ishan Suresh Kumari. Freshmen Krish Dave and Kavin Sivapunniyan are others to watch.

"Due to the number of returning players with depth and experience it will come down to work ethic, said Galow.

WEST AURORA

Senior Josh Hartman has excelled on the tennis court and in the classroom. Hartman, in the top one percent scholastically in the senior class, was 24-8 a year ago and was a Class 2A state qualifier.

The Blackhawks, 8-2 in the Suburban Prairie Conference last year, were 13-5 overall.

West Aurora also returns all-conference, all-academic performer Jonathan Hoskins (17-8). The Blackhawks are bolstered by returning juniors Lucas Van Lear, Tim Plummer, Cole Loomer, Tyler Byrne, Dexter McWilliams and Grant Klausner and sophomore Nolan Wyeth, plus newcomers Noah Fuller, a junior, and sophomores Josh Hart and Ayden Wicks.

WHEATON ACADEMY

The Warriors return the state qualifying doubles team of senior Eddie Dykema and junior Elliott Poland, and seniors Will Sias, Micah Barton Christian Hwang and Nathan Fulton plus senior newcomers Paul Rieger and Sam Swoboda.

WHEATON NORTH

The Falcons, who won their fourth straight DuKane Conference title a year ago, were 14-3 in dual meet, second in the Class 2A Willowbrook sectional and 29th at state.

Coach Laird returns a veteran group led by seniors Gavin Kelly, Will Arnesen, Jack Nelson and Milo Saenz along with sophomore Henry Jonas. Seniors Charlie Lytle, Will Marshe, Tim Marson, Jack Modica, Charlie Sindelar and Derek Wietelman and sophomores Evan Ciotti, Elliott Conway and Sam Hill join the team.

"Most teams in the DuKane lost their top starters, but there are still some competitive kids in the league," said Laird. “We always want to win the conference and should be in the mix. We have had singles or doubles team in the state finals the last four years and we hope to continue that.”

WHEATON WARRENVILLE SOUTH

Patti Clousing’s Tigers return seniors Santi Mosca, Quinn Lindsey and Troy Dunlap and junior Mike Hauenstein from a team that finished second in the DuKane Conference.

"We want to finish in the top three in the DuKane Conference," said Clousing. “We have five returning players and we need contributions from new players."

WILLOWBROOK

The Warriors bring back seniors Cole Williams, Omair Hameed, Will Greco and Omar Arenas and junior Brogan Byrne for coach Ed Delacruz while adding juniors Corbin Tomasello, Ryan Pletsch, Nathan Leal and Daniel Rocha.

YORK

The Dukes, 11th in Class 2A last year and sectional champs, return senior state qualifiers Nate Yu and Brennan Maxeiner along with juniors Jason Dermott and Kieran Goldstein.

Other returners for first-year coach Bradley Sullivan are seniors Brendan Carroll, Cyrus Colson, Andrew Greene, Richard Simonds and Saveen Shah along with juniors Finley Humpherson and Oscar Humpershon and sophomores David Borislavov and Liam Ponton. They add sophomores Eamon Hall and Ved Sule and freshman Syed Mustafamar.

"We have four state qualifiers and a good blend of depth and newcomers," said Sullivan. “We want to repeat as sectional champs. Everybody is chasing state champion Hinsdale Central and fifth-place Lyons."