Boys tennis has been an area of strength for our local high schools, with teams peppering the record books with state-level performances. Learn more in this Fast Fact, presented by BMO Harris Bank.
Earlier this year we looked at the success of our girls tennis teams at the state meet. With the boys teams returning to the courts this week, let’s see what teams have found success at state in the latest Fast Facts.
Many Naperville area players have gone deep into the state tournament at both the team and individual levels.
Neuqua Valley
Neuqua Valley won 13 sectional championships under coach Trudy Benorth, but the only top five state finish belongs to Brett Meyers in 2016 who finished 5th. The Wildcats were 5th place as a team that season as well.
Waubonsie Valley
Waubonsie Valley and longtime head coach Phil Galow has sectional and conference championships in the trophy case and boasts two top five state finishers in the last decade. In 2013, Eric Marbach completed one of the most impressive seasons NSW has ever seen in boys tennis, going 35-1 with the only loss coming in the state championship match.
In 2018, WV senior Anthony Nguyen finished his strong career on a high note, winning the 5th place match over Ryan Roegner from Naperville Central.
Benet Academy
Benet Academy has had several All State tennis players. First Mike Shehorn and Mike Tolva took 3rd place in doubles in 1998. Connor Roth had one of the best high school tennis careers of any boys player in the area, finishing 7th in 2004 and as the state runner up in both 2005 and 2007.
The Redwings had their most team success in 2017 in the class 1A tournament, by winning the third place trophy. Leading the way for BA at the 2017 meet, Danny McGuigan and Casey Schrader finished in 4th place in doubles while Patrick McGuigan took 6th in singles.
Naperville North
Naperville North is home to the first individual and team championship for any of our teams. Ron Kowal won the state singles championship back in 1979, still the only boys singles champion the city has ever seen. In 1994, the Huskies won the team state championship, thanks to Vivek Mathew finishing in 4th place in singles and a state championship in doubles from Jeff Laski and Matt Horsely. Laski and Horsely also finished 5th as a doubles team in 1993. Laski then took 5th again in 1995 with new partner Adam Axley while Horsely finished third in singles in 95. The Huskies earned the third place team trophy that season.
Naperville Central
Naperville Central has the most boys tennis team trophies of our six teams with three. The first was the state runner up trophy in 1984 behind 5th place doubles team Todd Hershey and Kyle Knapp and 6th place in singles from Bruce Jervis.
The Redhawks then brought home third place in 2001 as Joe Williams and Joe Schmitt finished third in doubles. In that same era, Josh Williams and Mike Tiu took 6th in doubles in 2003 and 4th in 2004.
The next All State performance for the red and white came in the 2017 2A meet. Junior Ryan Roegner picked up key points by winning the 3rd place match. Martin Matov and Bill Zhang than won the 5th place match to secure the program’s first ever team state championship.
Matov and new partner Ammaar Saeed then took third place in doubles the following year in 2018. At the most recent state tournament in 2019, Ammaar’s younger brother Daanyal and Blake Roegner, Ryan’s younger brother, finished as the state doubles runner up. The goes down as the best individual performance in team history.
For more prep sports content, visit our Naperville Sports Weekly page!
