High school boys tennis preview: Team-by-team

Looking at teams around the area. (Coaches: If you’d like your team included, please fill out the questionnaire.)

Beach District

Princess Anne: Senior Harrison Lee, with a 4.46 grade-point average, returns after a memorable surge to last year’s state Class 5 singles championship. The Cavaliers, co-coached by Ramel Bautista and Michael Stoney, won Region A last season over First Colonial before falling to the Patriots in a state semifinal rematch to finish 12-2. Stoney’s senior son, Zachary, likely will move up to No. 2. Senior Isaac Kwong and sophomore Joseph Park return after contributing at the lineup’s lower end last year, and sophomore Matthew Murphy and senior Jackson Alexander also should contribute in what again should be a fight with the Patriots for Beach and region supremacy.

Ocean Lakes: Coach Jim Ferrara said that though his Dolphins lost four of last year’s top six from an 8-2 team, “I feel we will contend to win the Beach District.” His top player, reigning Class 6 Region A champ Vincent Yi, a junior who’s a talented violinist and concert-master with a 4.20 grade-point average, has a chance to repeat his title and contend at state. He was 7-3 in the district last season.

Kempsville: The Chiefs don’t figure to challenge for the top of the Beach District, but “we always aim to beat our close rivals such as Tallwood, Landstown and Green Run,” second-year coach Andrew Shakely said. “All about those bragging rights!” Seniors John Munitz and Connor Jarvis look like the top two players on a team also including juniors Dalton Price and Jacob Copeland, freshman Elijah McDaniel, senior Elias Paulino and sophomore Jaydn Hillian.

Eastern District

Maury: Janita Hess has coached the Commodores for a decade, and they haven’t lost a regular-season match in seven years and have qualified for the state tournament for the last five, where Richmond-area or Virginia Beach teams usually have knocked them off. Though 2022 Class 5 Region B singles champ Alex Seretis graduated and now starts in doubles for Christopher Newport, runner-up Patrick Stiles returns at the No. 2 spot. He was unbeaten in regular-season play, and talented freshman John Felts and Manolo Angeles should fill two of the other spots. Hess said Felts has a Universal Tennis Rating of a solid 6.5. “We are a team and strive for success as such,” Hess said. “Only as good as your weakest man.”

Granby: Coach Eric Harris’ Comets were 13-3 last season and reached the Class 5 state quarterfinals, beating all of their district opponents except Maury, which defeated them 5-4 in the regular season. “This will be our best chance to win the Eastern District,” Harris said. Seniors Hugo Cossias, Spencer Villanueva, Nathan McCarty, junior Noah Scharanz, freshman Josh Loo and sophomore Hobie Peterman figure to start.

Southeastern District

Great Bridge: Former Princess Anne coach Rick Zano has taken over as the coach at Great Bridge, where his sophomore son, JP, will be the top player. He was 17-2 at No. 4 singles a year ago. Only JP Zano and senior Greyson Roy return from last year’s starting lineup, but the Wildcats were 16-3 and 8-1 in the Southeastern District, where Hickory could be the team to beat.

King’s Fork: Roosevelt Brown II is in his first year as the coach and wants his team to be Suffolk’s best. He said he has several returnees and “several kids out that have never picked up a racket before and are eager to learn and ready to win. ... Great group of kids.”

Peninsula District

Gloucester: The Dukes are coming back to action after missing the 2022 season. Coach Kent LaRoque called it “a team of newness.” seniors Hayden Wagner, Jack VanFössen and Ethan Gardiner are part of a team with seven 12th-graders and two sophomores. “John McCloskey is fun to watch play at the net. He’s unorthodox, but effective,” LaRoque said. “The top six are pretty even in comparison, but this is especially true for places three through six. We’re hoping to build some momentum this year to drawn player interest for future seasons.”

Independents

Norfolk Academy: Coach Michael Duquette’s Bulldogs bring back their top three players from a 12-5 team that went unbeaten in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools and reached the VISAA Division I semifinals: Vignesh Akkina, Joseph Hobbs and Julian Burke. “Depth has always been a strength of the Bulldogs, and even though we lost a couple starters from last year, we look forward to seeing several new faces stepping up.” Duquette said Burke “is an experienced #3 player and brings consistency to the middle of the lineup. Senior captains Matthew Konikoff and Caleb Peck bring leadership and energy.”

Norfolk Collegiate: Watch out for these guys; they’re clearly contenders for the TCIS and VISAA Division II championships as Chris Yost, a former Western Branch and Christopher Newport player, moves up from assistant to head coach. Senior Charles Hobbs, who has a strong double-digit Universal Tennis Rating, is one ofthe area’s best young players. He immediately goes to the top of a lineup that returns good experience in junior Blake Hrisko (last year’s No. 1), seniors Logan Reed, Bo Taliaferro, TyJah Chapman and Winston Chapman, sophomore Tyson Caines and junior Kosmas Griffin. “Tennis needs to be a year-round sport to compete at the highest level of high school tennis, and I am proud of all our players for putting in the hard work during the offseason to make opportunities possible.”

Catholic: Sophomore Caleb Garr, who was 5-8 as a No. 1 singles player in the TCIS last season, comes back to anchor the Crusaders. Coach Tal Covington, a former Hampden-Sydney player, said, “Outside of Caleb, we are rebuilding and we lost five starters from last season.” His team was 5-8 last year, 3-5 in the TCIS.