2023 Mercury Boys Tennis Previews
Boyertown
Coach: Donna Laskosky
Last year’s record: 5-6 PAC
Players to watch: Brayden Burkhardt, singles; Nick Gehringer, singles; Luke Brisbois, singles; Sam Frain/Andrew Mayan, doubles; AJ Lilly/Joey Romano, doubles; Cole Boughter/Troy O’Malley, doubles; Cody Youse/Nate Romanisko, doubles.
Outlook: N/A
Daniel Boone
Coach: Ryan Burke, 4th season
Last season’s record: 5-3 Berks I, 13-4 overall
Players to watch: Sam Shank, Jr., first singles; Evan Miller, Jr., second singles; Lucas Armbuster, So., third singles; Caiden Oister, Sr., fourth singles; Owen Blume, Sr., fifth singles.
Outlook: The Blazers are coming off a season in which they broke a program record for wins in a season (13). Daniel Boone is looking to build off a strong year and earn the school’s first Berks playoff berth.
“Our strength this year will come from both experience and a competitive drive to keep making school history,” Burke said. “Although tennis has a misconception of being a solitary sport, our current group of upperclassmen understand that a full team effort will help us reach the playoff goal. They do not rest on their individual success from a year ago, they want a full team experience.”
Methacton
Coach: Jill Walker, 12th season
Last season’s record: 13-2 overall
Players to watch: Dylan Wen, So.; Akash Suresh, Jr.; Ethan O’Brien, Sr.
Outlook: The Warriors have all of their singles players returning, including a tournament level player in Wen, who garnered Mercury All-Area first team honors in his freshman campaign last season.
“We would love to win the PAC championship this season and make a solid mark in district play,” Walker said.
Owen J. Roberts
Coach: Jerry Styer, 24th season
Last season’s record: 8-3 PAC, 9-5 overall
Players to watch: Talon Nguyen, first singles; Jack Sawicki, second singles; Chase Schultz, third singles; Owen Lake/Jack Payne, first doubles; Joey Kish/Garrett Sloan, second doubles; Alec Kanavy/Ayanna Nukala, third doubles; Dennis Pomager/Daniel Epps, fourth doubles.
Outlook: While there are just three seniors, Owen J. Roberts is loaded with 27 players on a deep, talented roster. Roy Chen, Soham Deshmukh, Veer Kakar, Matthew Karounos, Nate Pomager, and senior walk-on Timothy Thompson are all players who can potentially get time playing doubles.
Julia Yaunaridge joins Owen J. Roberts as an assistant coach, having played four seasons for the Wildcats and finishing her career at first singles before playing all four years at Ursinus. Girls tennis assistant coach Brandon Miller will also be volunteering on staff, being a four-year player at Owen J. Roberts finished at first singles before his career at Millersville University.
“We will have an opportunity to challenge into the varsity doubles positions,” Styer said. “With a young, enthusiastic team of27 players, and with Julia and Brandon both being Certified Teaching Professionals, plus their playing experience, the outlook is excellent for the next two seasons.”
Perkiomen Valley
Coach: Derek Pongras, 7th season
Last season’s record: 9-2 overall
Players to watch: Henry Ye Sr., first singles.
Outlook: Perkiomen Valley will be an experienced, upperclassmen-laden squad with eight seniors, highlighted by Henry Ye. Ye qualified for districts in both singles and doubles and was named Mercury All-Area second team last season. Ye will play first singles in a lineup expected to do some damage in the PAC.
“We are looking forward to our season this year as we will have eight seniors on our varsity squad,” Pongras said. “We have a very experienced team this year and are really excited about our chances in the league.”
Phoenixville
Coach: Ricardo Saad, fifth season
Last season’s record: 7-4 PAC
Players to watch: Zachary Paat, first singles; Tarun Emani, second singles; Owen Graver, third singles; Evan Desmarais/Connor Vitz, first doubles; Joseph Matilla/Maximilian Goudie, second doubles; Jared Vitz/Nick Vanderveer, third doubles; Jake Sullivan/Akash Aravindan, fourth doubles.
Pope John Paul II
Coach: Sue McDonough, 4th season
Last season’s record: 2-9 PAC/overall
Players to watch: Aidan McCarel, Jr., first singles; Tyson Gottfried, Fr., second singles.
Outlook: “We are determined to be more successful this season,” McDonough said. “The guys are working hard toward this goal.”
Pottsgrove
Coach: Gus Tellis, 24th season
Last season’s record: 6-5 PAC, 9-6 overall
Players to watch: Declan Tabor, Sr., first doubles.
Outlook: Only one senior will be starting for Pottsgrove, Declan Tabor at first doubles. The Falcons graduated six seniors in total last spring and will feature a large crop of young players looking to gain experience this season.
“The team’s future is very bright, with the projected development of so many underclassmen,” Tellis said. “This is a hardworking group of young men, who really want to improve, in other words, a coach’s dream.”
Pottstown
Coach: Sean McNamara, 5th season
Last season’s record: 2-9 PAC
Players to watch: Freddy Rodriguez, singles; Dominic DiPietro, singles; Austin Sundstrom, singles; Kyle Cheney/Mehki Jenkins, doubles; Jayden Pray/Omar Alaoui, doubles; Mauricio Calle/Kevin Remoso, doubles; Emanuel Laganes/Nye Powell, doubles.
Outlook: N/A
Spring-Ford
Coach: John Brennan: 19th season
Last season’s record: 11-0 PAC, PAC Champion, 12-4 overall
Players to watch: Yash Rohera, Sr.; Sahil Desai, Sr.; Arnav Pallem, Sr.; Michael Damiani, Sr.; Arnav Gupta, Jr.; Harjas Singh, Jr.; Naman Khandelwal, Jr.; Lachlan Stevens, Jr.; Matteo Bucci, So.; Prathik Chamarti, So.; Henry Damiani, So.; Krithik Rajasekar, So.; Luke Rouyer, So.; Matt Rouyer, So.; Aidan Chamberlain, Fr.
Outlook: It’ll be a new-look Rams team with just three returning players from last year’s PAC champion squad that graduated Mercury Player of the Year and two-time PAC singles champ Cameron Moore. Yash Rohera has vaulted from the doubles positions into the No. 1 singles spot.
“There will be some bumps along the way as this year’s team looks to gain some varsity experience and attempt to win some PAC matches in a very competitive league,” Brennan. “Hopefully we are coming to every practice and match ready to compete and learn from each time stepping on the court.”
Upper Merion
Coach: Tyler Triolo, 1st season
Last season’s record: 5-6 PAC, 6-7 overall
Players to watch: Josiah Kotright, So.; Chris Smith, Fr.
Outlook: Josiah Kotright is Upper Merion’s top returner at first singles, having had a standout freshman campaign that garnered Mercury All-Area first team honors. Tyler Triolo, the former Spring-Ford standout and PAC singles champion (2011) takes the helm of Upper Merion’s program after two years as an assistant coach.
“We are excited for the upcoming season,” Triolo said. “The team is a great blend of returning players and new talented players coming in. Our goal is to not only enjoy the competition, but to be competitive in the PAC this year and improve upon our 5-6 record from last season. We have a really positive team culture and are looking forward to a successful season.”
Upper Perkiomen
Coach: John Williamson, 14th season
Last season’s record: 3-8 league, 4-9 overall
Players to watch: Henry Queeney, Jr., singles; Steve Schmittinger, Jr., singles; Kaden Dennis, Jr., doubles; Dylan Dick, Jr., doubles; Ben Buckwalter, Jr., doubles.
Outlook: Upper Perkiomen graduated a sizable senior class and will have opportunities for younger players to fill new roles on the team.
“We have a young and inexperienced team, so we’re looking for our team to learn more each day and continue to improve throughout the season,” Williamson said.
