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Scouting Fox Valley boys tennis

Top players: Isomiddin Abdusalomov, jr., West Aurora; Jack Adams, jr., Huntley; Eric Anderson, sr., Geneva; Samuel Arsenault, sr., West Aurora; Elmer Ave, so., Larkin; Connor Bajuk, jr., St. Charles North; Andrew Borse, sr., Geneva; Chase Bremner, sr., Batavia; Jacob Brendel, sr., Jacobs; Andrew Burkey, so., Huntley; Kevin Burton, sr., Jacobs; Kyle Burton, sr., Jacobs; JT Butcher, sr., Dundee-Crown; Mark Chammany, sr. St. Edward; Harsh Chheda, sr., Bartlett; Peter Cholewa, sr. St. Edward; Ted Conneen, jr., Cary-Grove; Thomas Conneen, sr., Cary-Grove; Saarav Desai, so., Huntley; Alex Freeman, sr., Crystal Lake South; Thomas Gallagher, sr., St. Edward; Orlando Garcia, sr., Dundee-Crown; Alex Geivulous, jr., St. Charles North; Michael Greenwald, sr., Cary-Grove; Reed Goldsworthy, sr., St. Charles North; Colin Johnson, sr. St. Charles East; Josh Joseph, jr., St. Charles North; Alex Luy, sr., Jacobs; Dan Minogue, sr., Crystal Lake South; Zach Moss, sr., St. Charles East; Aakash Nagarapu, sr., Bartlett; Sam Palmer, sr., Crystal Lake South; Thomas Patel, so., Huntley; Brogan Pierce, jr., Batavia; Blake Snider, sr., Hampshire; Cary-Grove; Daniel Sowa, jr., Cary-Grove; Alex Veltcamp, jr., Streamwood

Season outlook: Colleen Brandner begins her sixth season coaching Bartlett. Jacob Brendel leads the Hawks. "Jacob's skills have increased dramatically," Brandner said. "I believe that he will be the one to beat in the conference. His hard work in the off-season is evident." Seniors Aakash Nagarapu, Harsh Chheda and Jose Dizon and junior Kaushik Selvakumar will anchor the doubles lineups. "These two doubles teams have played together on and off since they were freshmen," Brandner said. "They know each other's strengths and weaknesses. I believe that this year's doubles teams will also be very strong." Other players to watch include Yaseen Ghani, Lucas Bryan and Mustafa Muhammed. "The team's enthusiasm is contagious," Brandner said. "I am looking forward to these boys leading the new players into creating a cohesive team." Bartlett is hoping to qualify players for state for the first time since this year's seniors were freshmen. "These boys definitely have their eyes on the prize," Brandner said. "With the changes to the Upstate Eight, the tennis conference will go from being split into two tournaments into one large tournament of 10, so it remains to be seen which team will rise to the top." Newcomers to watch include freshmen Nathan Mork, Sahil Patel and Matthew Brendel. The Hawks set a program record with 62 players coming out for the team.

Batavia finished its final season in the Upstate Eight in second place, then won the St. Charles North sectional. The Bulldogs return a couple state qualifiers from that team starting with junior Brogan Pierce who won both conference and sectional titles last year. Senior Chase Bremner will play second singles after also winning a conference crown and taking second at sectionals. Pierce recently signed to play college tennis at Western Michigan University, while Bremner will be playing at Taylor University in Indiana. "This has been one of the best 1 and 2 singles tandems in Batavia tennis history," Bulldogs coach Brad Nelson said. "Both have a good shot to return to the state tournament this season. They will also be among the favorites to win their position in the inaugural DuKane Conference tournament in May." Junior Benn Lirot moves into third singles after playing No. 1 singles for JV last year. Cullen Bremner is moving to doubles this spring and will be joined by senior Griffin Unterberg, junior Ben Grizaffi, senior Isaac Schifferer, senior Drew Lillig, senior Kipp Knecht and senior Leo Barzi. Two freshmen, Kohl Winkle and Hank McClure, also will be in the doubles mix. "The key to our season will be how quickly our doubles teams come together," Nelson said. "We had a state qualifying first doubles team graduate and also lost half of our third doubles team. We will be very strong at the top of our singles lineup. If we can improve our service returns, stay strong mentally and find some doubles teams that work well together, this will be an outstanding season for us. We have the talent and experience to win every weekend tournament and compete for conference and sectional titles."

In her ninth year with Cary-Grove, Amanda Schuetzle has some big shoes to fill including Mike Ptaszek, a four-year starter. Isaac Rands would have played No. 1 doubles but is out with an injury. After going 13-2 last year and taking fourth at the Fox Valley Conference tournament, the Trojans will have to find new lineup combinations that work. "This season will take on a new look for us," Schuetzle said. "We have four returning starters who will definitely be strong leaders for us at the top and some incoming juniors who have put some time in during the off-season that are bringing a lot of energy and commitment to our team practices. Each day this season has brought us new challenges and we are looking to combine our experience with our team's drive to work toward preparation for those challenges and to be competitive in the FVC this season."

Rick Bailey begins his first year at Crystal Lake South after spending 25 years at Johnsburg and the past season at Mundelein. The Gators are coming off a seventh place finish in the FVC tournament with a 5-5 overall dual record. Alex Freeman is a third-year varsity player who went 7-5 at No. 2 singles last year. Fellow senior Dan Minogue went 6-6 at doubles last year and classmate Sam Palmer was 6-5 at No. 2 and 3 singles. Senior Nathan Koh was 4-1 at singles and 2-6 doubles last year while sophomores Will Howard, Carson O'Connor and Ethan Wilkening all won matches in both singles and doubles as freshmen. Two freshmen, Jackson Schuetzle and Ethen Schock, will be players to watch. Schuetzle's mother Amanda is the head girls coach at Crystal Lake South and the boys coach at Cary-Grove. "I'm very happy to be coaching again in McHenry County," Bailey said. "I know and have coached against all of the FVC veteran coaches. With seven returning players who played varsity last spring, the addition of Schuetzle and Schock, plus eight players who played JV last year vying for the remaining varsity spots, I hope to field a team with some depth who will be able to compete both within and outside the conference." Top half of the FVC is a goal, and Bailey said the Gators could do damage being in the 1A state tournament series.

Dundee-Crown is coming off a 3-9 season, 2-6 in the Fox Valley Conference. The Chargers will turn to returnees JT Butcher, Orlando Garcia, Zach Grabowski, Jonah Koehlert and Sneh Shah while mixing in newcomers Nathan Koehlert, Jan Miodowski, Tyler Mueller and Esam Shah.

Geneva is another school with a new coach as Ryan Barabasz takes over for Zach Evans. The Vikings were 7-6 in duals last year without a state qualifier. Barabasz looks to build around eight returnees including seniors Andrew Borse, Eric Anderson, Joel Peruba, Kyle Fisher, Michael Paige and sophomores Sam Mickus and Cal McKittrick. "Our team is very experienced," Barabasz said. "We look to build on some of the positives from last year and be competitive in the new conference."

Returning state qualifier Blake Snider, a senior, leads Dylan Clark's Hampshire squad. Snider qualified last year in doubles. Other Whip-Purs to watch include seniors Daniel Hawkey and John McCann.

Huntley is coming off an excellent 22-2 season. The Red Raiders won the Fox Valley Conference regular season and tournament but did not qualify anyone for state. Newcomer Matt Grubbs will join an experienced lineup that includes Saarav Desai, Thomas Patel, Andrew Burkey, Jack Adams, Drake Southwell, Julian Collins, Ben Said and Justin Schee. "We lost some good players to graduation last year but we return a strong lineup," Huntley coach Barry Wells said. "We should have enough depth and talent at the top to contend for the conference title again."

Jacobs is another Fox Valley Conference school with a veteran coach. Jon Betts begins his 14th year after going 18-8 last season including 5-3 in conference. The Golden Eagles finished 16th at state and return Kyle Burton who was the FVC champion at No. 2 singles and a state qualifier along with Kerwin Chong and Kevin Burton. Other players to watch include Alex Luy, juniors Ethan Schmidt, Brandon Dinh and Chris Kastritis, sophomore John Kaiser and freshmen Thomas Nelson, Jed Sia and Justin Brzeski. Junior Grant Stelton also joins the mix. "With a young, but experienced group, we're excited about the possibilities we have to improve this season," Betts said. "We hope to be competitive throughout the regular season with a goal of peaking as we move toward the Fox Valley Conference tournament and IHSA state series."

Kevin Schillerstrom's Larkin squad has 16 players this season - seven on varsity and nine on JV. They are coming off a 4-13 season, finishing second in the Elgin Invitational. Sophomore Elmer Ave is the team captain and will play first singles after mostly playing second singles last year. Ave went 7-4 last year. Senior Omar Ramirez also returns and is moving from doubles to second singles. Sophomore Bryant Menchaca and senior Miguel Flores-Caceres join the lineup; Menchaca played first singles on JV last year while Flores-Caceres is new to the sport and will play first doubles with Nate Leith. "This is a hard-working, disciplined group that has a real desire and motivation to better themselves on the tennis court," Schillerstrom said. "Most of them have never played the sport before and are hungry to try something new."

Seniors Zach Moss and Colin Johnson give St. Charles East a returning state qualifying doubles team. The Saints went 8-7 in duals last year and also bring back senior Mason Beydoun, junior Jeff Sharko and sophomore Jason Bijnowski ready for their first chance to compete in the DuKane Conference. "We are looking forward to competing in the new conference," Saints coach Rob Livermore said.

St. Charles North is always a team to watch and this spring is no exception. After going 17-2 last year, winning the Upstate Eight, finishing second in sectionals and qualifying two doubles teams to state, the North Stars are looking for another big year. Connor Bajuk, Reed Goldsworthy and Josh Joseph all qualified for state last year, and Alex Geivulous has been playing first singles since his freshman year. The North Stars also bring back four more all-conference players - seniors Jim Cooke, David Schmidt and Brett Walden, and junior Cody Thomas. St. Charles North will add sophomore Aarman Mullick, who was injured last year, to the lineup along with freshman Mattas Cuillibis. "He will challenge for the top spot in the lineup this year," North Stars coach Sean Masoncup said. "We are deep this season and looking forward to a great year."

After a rebuilding season last year, St. Edward is much more experienced as 2019 begins. No. 1 singles player Peter Cholewa is a third-year player who coach Allan Anastacio expects to have a solid year. Two more seniors, Thomas Gallagher and Mark Chammany, are new to playing together at first doubles but have been looking promising to start the year, according to Anastacio. "We have three new players this season, one of them might be in our second doubles," Anastacio said. "With 10 players coming back form last year, we are expecting to be a lot better this year."

Lester Yesnick's Streamwood squad features one of the best singles players in the area, junior Alex Veltcamp. He qualified for state and earned all-conference last year. Veltcamp also was invited and played in the preseason tournament at New Trier.

West Aurora is coming off an 8-12 season. One of their highlights came when the Blackhawks finished fifth out of 24 teams at the Triad Tournament. Their returnees include seniors Samuel Arsenault, Omar Licon and Rameel Arshad, juniors Sebastian Sevilla, Ivan Blanco and Isomiddin Abdusalomov, and sophomore Raymond Wu. Freshman Owen Jakl will play doubles and Omar Licon, a senior transfer from Texas, could play either singles or doubles. "Isomiddin had a winning record last year and is our strongest player right now," West Aurora coach Bill Stanley said. "Most players on the team are very close in ability, so we hope to get some wins due to our depth."

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