As seniors and fourth-year varsity players for the Riverside Brookfield High School boys tennis team, seniors Mathias Kubon and Charlie DeButch want to achieve well beyond their No. 2 doubles title at the 2025 Upstate Eight Conference Meet.
“I think we’re going to have a shot at winning conference this year and maybe even getting a good placement for (Class 2A sectionals),” Kubon said. “We have a lot of strong players. We’ve honed our skills.”
A veteran RBHS lineup should contend for the UEC title after finishing in third at the UEC Tournament in last season’s conference debut. The Bulldogs were 7-4 in duals, 3-2 in the UEC. Juniors Linden Leander and Humza Ahmad also finished second at No. 1 doubles. Other returning standouts include seniors James McKinney, Gavin Armstrong and Elias Nolan and juniors Jake Corollo, Jack Sandusky and Maxwell Kaplan.
“Our goal is to win the conference as we have one of our strongest rosters in the last three years,” RBHS coach Sam Weiss said. “(It’s a) senior heavy lineup with a lot of juniors. These guys have played together for at least three years so the chemistry is at a peak. We are focusing on patience and rally tolerance this season along with understanding roles of doubles positions.”
At the 2025 sectional, the doubles teams of Kubon and DeButch and Leander and Ahmad and singles player Corollo reached the round of 16. Kubon and DeButch won a play-in match.
“I think I can compete with a lot harder competition (this season). I think I’ve gotten the experience I needed to take the level up to first doubles,” DeButch said. “We’re well rounded, a lot of depth on the team. Our third and fourth doubles are pretty good and solid.”
Weiss said he plans to try multiple lineups that may split last year’s double teams and include McKinney as a No. 2 option at both singles and doubles.
The lineups will give Leander and Ahmad more singles matches.
“I’m looking forward to playing singles more,” said Leander, a doubles player the past two seasons.
“I haven’t been able to play much singles just due to seniority and stuff like that but hopefully I can take some games against better competition,” Ahmad said. “The key to our team’s success is probably going to be our team unity. We’re hoping we can carry the momentum of last year and try to go for it all.”
LTHS boys tennis
If he reaches an impressive fourth 2A state meet, Lyons Township senior Shay Sweigard has a simple plan.
“My goal would be to get top eight (in singles),” Sweigard said. “Obviously a hope is to win state, but my main goal is top eight. Last year I was top 16.”
Also back from the 2025 state lineup in doubles are the team of seniors Rohan Nagale and Jackson Albee and sophomore Mateja Nokic, who qualified with graduated Fred Chen. Other key returnees are seniors Andrew Jain and Manny Gonzalez and junior Ari Chen. Freshman Nolan Pavlik leads varsity newcomers.
“(We have) a lot of varsity experience and four returning state qualifiers,” LTHS coach Clint Buetikofer said.
Last season, the Lions were 8-4 in duals and finished fourth in the West Suburban Conference Silver Division with a 3-3 record. Sweigard reached state for the second time in singles and earned a No. 9-16 seed. He went 3-2 at state, losing his second match to a No. 5-8 seed for that top-eight finish. Sweigard’s 20-9 overall record also included a second-place finish at No. 1 singles at the WSC Silver Meet.
As a sophomore, Sweigard was all-state for being seventh in doubles with 2024 graduate Luke Howell. Sweigard was 2-2 at state singles in 2023. At last year’s state doubles, Nokic and Chen (9-10) were 1-2 and Nagale and Albee (9-11) were 0-2. Gonzalez was third at No. 2 singles at the Silver Meet.
“Working hard in practice and responding well to adversity matches (are keys this season),” Buetikofer said.