The boys tennis team finished off its season strong by winning the IHSA 1A State Championship May 23-25 at Palatine High School. The team also won the title in 2018, and this is the first time in U-High history that both the boys and girls tennis teams have won the state championship in the same academic year.
A total of 80 teams qualified at least one person for state, and the five U-High state qualifiers scored a total of 35 points over the three days — winning the championship for U-High.
The U-High individual placements at state are:
- Krish Khanna and Arjun Sawney, doubles, first place
- Dash Smith, singles, third place
- Adam Tang and Maurice Newman, doubles, fourth place
Prior to state, the team won the IHSA 1A Sectionals Championship, placed second at the ISL Championships, placed first at the Lake Park Invite and had a 13-2 record for the whole season.
Head coach Dawuad Talib is proud of the team’s high placements.
“From that standpoint the guys are happy, and I think that the school’s happy,” Mr. Talib said. “I think our success operating as a team on each court, one to five, is kind of galvanizing. To me, that’s how we’ve been very successful.”
Junior Krish Khanna, a varsity captain, feels similarly about the team’s strong record.
“I think that the record is just a testament to the amount of work that all the members of the team put in inside and outside of school,” Krish said, “and the quality of players and the quality of people that we have representing our school.”
Krish and his partner, ninth grader Arjun Sawney, placed first out of the 64 doubles teams at state. Krish recognizes his and his partner’s strong level of playing during the championship match.
“We ended up beating them 6-1, 6-2, so we played some of the best tennis we had all season at the right time,” Krish said. “That was very, very special for me and for the whole team.”
The junior varsity team did not play in sectionals or state, but they still had a large number of student athlete participants.
“The JV team really showed signs of improvement, especially on courts four and five,” assistant coach Asa Townsend said. “We had a very large number of freshmen this year, and I think if these guys continue to practice and play well together, they’ll be the next coming of the next varsity team.”
Mr. Townsend, players on the team and Mr. Talib are satisfied with their season this year.
Mr. Talib said, “I’m very proud of these guys individually and what they were able to do as a team.”
