Scouting the 2022 boys tennis season in the Northwest suburbs

It was not too long ago that Barrington was the overwhelming favorite in Mid-Suburban Leage boys tennis, carrying off countless trophies, while sending nearly its entire lineup into the state tournament at the same time.

However, the arrival of Max Sheldon four years ago at Hersey would signal a shift in power in the league and the future state runner-up, who has since moved on to play at Michigan State University, helped inspired the Huskies, who now along with Fremd, and Conant have all become first-class programs to make the conference one to watch.

This quartet has sent dozens of players to the state tournament since the Sheldon came on the scene, including last season when 22 combined players at singles and doubles collected 41 overall victories.

Barrington and Hersey would tie for fourth place at state, Fremd was eighth, and Conant 26th.

"There are so many good players all across the conference now, with both Fremd and Hersey right there with us so it should be a good year for tennis in the MSL this season," said Barrington head coach John Roncone, whose club will feature six back including his terrific No. 1 Pranav Gadiraju, along with the doubles team of Ethan Paik-Gabe Mills (state qualifiers) and junior Deven Carse, who fought off injuries to earn a spot in the state field.

The Broncos go eight deep with quality and experience while Jonny Kent, the new head coach at Fremd, has one of the top singles players in the state and the Midwest in Andrew Spurck back as well as state doubles qualifiers Jason Sze-Amaye Shyani, and just as much depth as Barrington.

"I'm excited about this team, which returns eight out of our 11 starters from a year ago, with all eight either MSL or sectional champs," said Kent. "We've put together a difficult schedule, playing seven teams that were in the top nine at state, so we'll look to challenge for a conference and sectional team title and top 10 finish at state."

MSL East champion Hersey welcomes back four state qualifiers, three of whom were all-state - senior Kacper Pacielak, sophomore Mitch Sheldon, who played one dubs, and sophomore Brent Chen, who will likely move into the No. 1 spot.

"We have three talented freshmen to add to our lineup and four terrific guys coming back with experience at state and with Hinsdale Central, New Trier, Barrington, and Jacobs potentially the top four at state, we hope to fit in somewhere 5-10 on the final day of the state tournament," said Hersey coach Andy Walton.

Coaches around the MSL East believe Prospect might surprise when all is said and done, a suggestion not lost on its head coach Brad Rathe.

"We return most of our team from a year ago, in fact, we basically only lost our No. 2 doubles team so with Sebastian (Schoyer) and Sammy (Hong) back as our one-dubs team with 13 wins, and sophomores Andrew Grave and Allen Paul, who were 12-5 as doubles partners, we have the best depth here in my seven years," said Rathe.

Rathe added that Patrick Kuczin and Sam Panagopoulos will likely handle things at singles with a talented newcomer in David Motorga ready to make his mark in his rookie season.

Coach Michael Naughton will have four back who were in his sectional starting lineup at Buffalo Grove last season with No. 1 Apoorv Sagar-Pitta leading the way and his one-dubs team of Justin Adrowski-Karaniv Saini back in the fold also.

"Our goal will be to finish top three in our division and top half at the conference tournament and to advance as many as we can to state," said Naughton.

In the MSL West, senior Rameen Marzban earned a place in the state field as a freshman and now the Conant star will going after his third trip to state before closing out a wonderful career for the Cougars.

"We lost Roberto Marcher, who was top 24 at doubles at state playing alongside Rameen, but other than that, we have nine guys back who all played all over our varsity lineup last year, so we have a lot of experience and depth to help make us a solid team from top-to-bottom," said Conant coach Matt Marks.

While Hoffman Estates, Palatine, and Schaumburg will be looking up to the big three in their division, both Palatine coach Jim Lange and the Saxons' Jonathan Schaefer look to enjoy plenty of success, despite having rosters that are polar opposite of each other.

"We're in a rebuild year after losing eight starters, but I am excited to see how Victor Dorogan raises his game after gaining so much experience as a first-year player a year ago, as well as being our best in order to compete in the conference and perhaps surprising a few teams who traditionally dominate the MSL," said Schaefer.

Lange welcomes back 11 seniors at Palatine including twin brothers Hayden and Ben Williams, Colin Bertrand, and Connor Loftus, among others.

"Hayden will be our No. 1 guy at singles, Ben at one-dubs as he comes back from offseason surgery. Bertrand and Loftus will sit at the top of our lineup and freshman Krish Jayanth will look to make an impact at singles this season," said Lange.

In the talent rich Central Suburban League, where reigning state champion New Trier plus Deerfield, Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South and Highland Park are Class 3A kingpins, coach Jerry Smith's Maine South team has some firepower of its own to make its mark this spring.

"New Trier, both Glenbrook schools, and Evanston are always tough in the (CSL) South, but we're going to have some fun, make some amazing memories along the way, and look to improve on our 18-6-0 record from a year ago with nearly all of our team back this year," said Smith.

Jack Belconis, and Marco Czosnyka, the Hawks' No. 1 and 2 at singles finished in the top 20 at state, while one dubs Giona Maccaferri and Jack Hartung, also 2021 state qualifiers are back, along with a couple of freshmen to add depth, and quality to the starting lineup.

In the CSL North, Maine West head coach John Hauenstein lost his superb two-time state qualifier and team leader in Kamil Kozerski, who finished with a sparkling 28-6 record last season before heading off to play collegiate tennis at IUPUI in Indianapolis.

"Kamil is a big loss to our team, and program, but we return George Ciuca, who went 16-4 at No. 2 and we have plenty of senior experience coming back," says Hauenstein, who has Jovan Lojanica-Ryan Weiler, both in the Warriors' sectional starting lineup a year ago.

In the East Suburban Catholic, St. Viator lost three from a year ago, including its doubles state qualifying team of Nate Kochera, and Colin Farley, but new head coach Mary Louise Blaney likes what she has seen in the early going.

"Michael McManaman and Andrew Firestone (both in the Lions' sectional starting lineup) and Colin Kochera are strong returning players, they worked really hard during the offseason, plus new players Charlie Bullock, Phil Banasik, and Andrew McKenna will be three to watch," said Blaney. "Our goal is a top three finish in the conference, so I'll rely on the experience of those coming back to help out the new guys.