Morris/Sussex 2024 boys tennis team-by-team preview capsules
NJAC-Independence
Boonton
Coach: Gregory LaPointe, third season
Last season: 1-15
Returnees: Sr. Christopher McMaster, Jr. Matthew Ribardo, Jr. Scott Soukup, Jr. Micah Gursoy, Jr. Patrick Blake, Jr. Peter Clear, So. James Lobb, So. Babur Ceynek, So. Adrian Calderon, So. James Lobb.
Newcomers: Jr. Alex Bordzol, Fr. Daniel Van Hoven.
Outlook: McMaster leads a large returning squad.
Hanover Park
Coach: Tara Geisser, 11th season
Last season: 12-3
Returnees: Sr. Odera Orjiekwe, Sr. Francis Murray, Sr. Kfir Katzav.
Newcomers: Fr. Ariel Litinski.
Outlook: Hanover Park's singles players are back for their fourth varsity seasons.
Kinnelon
Coach: Mark Landzert, fourth season
Last season: 7-10
Returnees: Sr. Zack Nelson, Sr. Pratik Patel, Sr. Taylor Stapp, Jr. Henry Evans.
Newcomers: Jr. Dylan Whitehead, Jr. Owen Fernstrom, Fr. Sam Baldino, Fr. Maxwell Halasnik.
Outlook: The experienced Colts hope to compete for the NJAC-Independence and North 1, Group 1 titles.
Madison
Coach: Anton Carrera, third season
Last season: 3-16
Returnees: Sr. Lukas Kolega, Sr. Dylan Murray, Jr. Broderick Dineen, Jr. Dashiell James, So. Christopher Lee.
Newcomers: Jr. Toon Janssen, Jr. Luke Cimino, Jr. Scott Sullivan, So. Bryce Curey, Fr. Chris Wu.
Outlook: The Dodgers continue to build with depth.
Pequannock
Coach: Brandon Horetsky, fourth season
Last season: 5-12
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Jacob Swanson, Jr. Ryan Savastano, Jr. Rowen Barthmus, So. Ryan Moore, So. Russell Eddeh, So. Michael D'Amico.
Newcomers: Sr. Mike Horgan, Sr. Owen Dudzic, So. Julien Palmieri, Fr. Gio Tutarashvili.
Outlook: Returning singles players Swanson and Eddeh lead Pequannock.
NJAC-Liberty
Morristown Beard
Coach: Brett Michel, 13th season
Last season: 13-8, 7-1 NJAC-Liberty co-champion
Returnees: Sr. Caleb Lokken-Bradford, Jr. Griffin Halper.
Outlook: Lokken-Bradford, a four-year starter, leads the depleted Crimson.
Mountain Lakes
Coach: Ryan Price, first season
Last season: 11-8, 7-1 NJAC-Liberty co-champion
Returnees: Sr. Yash Samat, Jr. Jonathan Barnett, Jr. Deagan O'Shaughnessy.
Newcomers: Jr. Ivan Lee, Jr. Harry Joelsson, So. Rohan Reddy.
Outlook: The young Lakers thrive as underdogs.
Parsippany
Coach: Michael Miller, ninth season
Last season: 8-8
Returnees: Sr. Ronak Patel, Sr. Sakthivel Rajendran, Sr. Max Booker, Sr. Vihaan Patel, Sr. Druv Rana, Jr. Krish Pipalia, So. Rathnavel Rajendran.
Outlook: Veteran Parsippany hopes to finish over .500.
Parsippany Hills
Coach: Dave Bongiovanni, fourth season
Last season: 7-9
Returnees: Sr. Christian Ofrecia, Sr. Nathan Lee, So. Dev Shah.
Newcomers: Sr. Mitchell Polin.
Outlook: Parsippany Hills has a new singles lineup.
NJAC-American
Chatham
Coach: James Cai, 12th season
Last season: 15-4
Returnees: Sr. Riley Becker, Sr. Andrew Becker, Sr. Jamie Eckles, Sr. Joseph Yang.
Newcomers: So. Davis Zhang, So. Aidan Wong, So. Chris Allen, So. Grayson Rivera, Fr. Ranvir Iyengar.
Outlook: The Cougars expect to be in contention for the Morris County Tournament and North 2, Group 3 titles.
Delbarton
Coach: John Thompson, 32nd season
Last season: 20-7, 12-1 NJAC-American champion; Morris County Tournament champion
Returnees: Sr. Jack Gibbons, Sr. Gavin Tripido, Sr. Julien Dietrich, Jr. Dylan Scarpati, So. Hugh Weldon, So. Alex Choi, So. Chase Eagan.
Newcomers: Sr. Max Lacz, Sr. Kevin Armstrong, Sr. Max Orosz, Jr. Andrew McDavitt, Fr. Connor Petrusi, Fr. Adita Somaiya.
Outlook: Veteran Delbarton has won 19 of the last 20 MCT team titles.
More: Delbarton tennis holds off Chatham to defend Morris County Tournament title again
Mendham
Coach: Jonathan Cataldi, first season
Last season: 22-4, NJSIAA Group 2 champion
Returnees: Sr. Owen Kilmer, Sr. Arya Gorti, Sr. Danny Jamer, Jr. Ryan Smith, Jr. Anthony Levine, So. Kyle Murray.
Newcomers: Fr. Kabir Kaushal, Fr. Johnny Gefaell.
Outlook: Cataldi moves over from Kinnelon and inherits a veteran team from Jeff Tukel, who retired after 17 seasons with the Mendham boys.
More: Mendham sends longtime tennis coach Jeff Tukel into retirement with rare championships
Montville
Coach: Richard Mosera, first season
Last season: 10-14, 5-7 NJAC-American
Returnees: Sr. Ryan Sun, Sr. Havish Boda.
Newcomers: So. Eric Davis.
Outlook: Former JV coach Mosera inherits a building team from Ken Sachs, the coach for almost 30 years.
Morris Hills
Coach: Meaghan Barger, eighth hseason
Last season: 11-10, 3-9 NJAC-American
Returnees: Sr. Kavin Sawant, Sr. Arya Mujumdar, Jr. Veer Gupta, Jr. Yash Gupta, Jr. Samarth Desai, Jr. Dharm Desai, Jr. Sheil Shah, Jr. Vihas Veggalam.
Newcomers: Jr. Aarav Patel, Jr. Sarath Sayam.
Outlook: The Scarlet Knights expect to be more competitive in the NJAC-American.
Sparta
Coach: Mike Wille, 12th season
Last season: 12-10; Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament champion
Returnees: Sr. Drew Young, Sr. Charlie Canzoniero, So. Ian Yip, So. Graham Mahoney.
Newcomers: Sr. Adam Stefancik, So. Dev Ranipa.
Outlook: Despite graduating its top two singles players, Sparta hopes to defend the HWS title and advance farther in the NJSIAA Tournament.
West Morris
Coach: Kelsey Matkowski, second season
Last season: 12-2, 9-1 NJAC-National champion
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Logan Rauschenberger, Sr. Arin Patel, Sr. Ryan Pelrine, Jr. Alex Trezza, So. Marvin Du, So. Justin Du.
Outlook: The experienced Wolfpack is stepping up to the challenging NJAC-American.
NJAC-National
Morris Knolls
Coach: Mike Mugavero, sixth season
Last season: 12-6
Returnees: Sr. Sean Fetters, Sr. Cian Joseph, Sr. Sava Prvulovic, Jr. Marek Kazik, Jr. Eric Alexander, So. Anay Gondha.
Newcomers: Fr. Vir Patel.
Outlook: The Golden Eagles hope for continued success.
Morristown
Coach: Lance Lieberman, 14th season
Last season: 9-14
Returnees: Jr. Shriram Vasudevan, So. Alper Kumlu, So. Charlie Beyer.
Newcomers: Sr. Jonah DeVries, Jr. Aidan Orbeta, Jr. Dylan Troup, Fr. Jackson Starcher.
Outlook: The Colonials hope to be competitive in the NJAC-National, and progress in tournaments.
Mount Olive
Coach: Daniel Grzywacz, 16th season
Last season: 5-15
Returnees: Sr. Ricci Granberg, Sr. Charlie Stoakley, Sr. Johan Chacko, Sr. Joaquin Villereal, Jr. Rishon Pudota.
Newcomers: Sr. Yeriel Sastre-DeJesus, Jr. Kevien Karram.
Outlook: The Marauders expect to progress.
Pope John
Coach: Chris Peterson, first season
Last season: 2-10
Returnees: Sr. James Ilardi, Sr. Henry Lee, Jr. Sebastian Rondon, Jr. Jack Sacchiero, So. William Franco, So. Adam Komosinki.
Newcomers: Sr. Ethan Lu, Jr. Vincent Notarnicola, Fr. Jaden Alphonse.
Outlook: The deep, versatile Lions hope to win the NJAC-National.
Randolph
Coach: Dan DiNozzi, seventh season
Last season: 13-7
Returnees: Sr. Darren Gao, Sr. Rishay Patel, Sr. Kevin Tish, Sr. Lukas Visser, Sr. Cameron Longa.
Newcomers: So. Rohan Gupta.
Outlook: With four returning starters and a senior-laden lineup, Randolph hopes to win the NJAC-National.
Roxbury
Coach: Rob Doyle, second season
Last season: 0-16
Returnees: Sr. Justin Masi, Jr. Aidan Boccher, Jr. Dylan Olmsted.
Newcomers: Jr. Vinny Romano, Jr. Mike Guadanino, So. Dylan Aretz, Fr. Dominick DeMarco.
Outlook: Roxbury is rebuilding around younger players.
NJAC-Colonial
High Point
Coach: Jesse Strehl, fourth season
Last season: 9-7
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Chase Krisanda, Sr. Nohlan Wehrli, Sr. Isaac Schuman, Sr. Carter Van Stone, Sr. Devin Rosser, Jr. Leo Castillo, Jr. Zach Sprung.
Newcomers: Jr. Sam Falliace.
Outlook: With the full lineup back, High Point expects to remain competitive.
Lenape Valley
Coach: Eric Schuman, third season
Last season: 3-11
Returnees: Sr. Matt Walter, Sr. Michael Shepherd, Sr. Ounuche Adejoh, Sr. Akshat Patel, Jr. Sean Palermo.
Newcomers: So. Yta Ishinai, Fr. Noah DeKnight.
Outlook: The Patriots want to host a NJSIAA Tournament match and beat last year's win total.
Newton
Coach: Chris Boyle, 27th season
Last season: 10-6
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Frankie Lubrano, Sr. Felipe Narvaez.
Newcomers: Sr. Asher Haiduc-Dale, Sr. Kevin Kozlowski, Sr. Frank Boffa, So. Jack Boffa, So. Ryan Marschall.
Outlook: Newton is rebuilding.
Vernon
Coach: Ray Loughren, sixth season
Last season: 9-4
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Owen Young, Sr. Lukas Baric, Jr. Michael Onysko-Koch.
Newcomers: Sr. Travis Blaum Boutillier, Fr. John Pecca.
Outlook: Vernon is rebuilding after graduating five players.
Wallkill Valley
Coach: Diane Brown, 15th season
Last season: 6-10
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Lucio Campa, Sr. Josiah Simmons, Sr. Elijah McLean, Jr. Aiden Ehlberg, Jr. Tim Choi.
Newcomers: Sr. Marco Garces, Jr. Matt Lara, Jr. Jared Lee, Jr. Shawn Delapaz, Jr. Curtis Jones, So. Jeremy Rockwell, Fr. Daniel DeFinis, Fr. Luke Nathan, Fr. Tristen Askew.
Outlook: The Rangers expect returning players to lead the way.
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ high school tennis: 2024 Morris/Sussex boys team previews
