CLASS 6A TENNIS PLAYERS TO WATCH
 
 

 

AARYA ANJANKAR AND ANISH POOJARI, BLUE VALLEY WEST
 
Anjankar and Poojari nearly gave the Jaguars a perfect sweep of the 6A state titles last year. As their teammate Francisco Landeras completed an undefeated season to win the 6A singles title, Anjankar and Poojari – whose brother, Akki, won a 6A doubles title as a senior in 2023 – kept their record clean all the way to the finals before finally having their quest for perfection come to an end. They had only dropped eight games through three state matches, including half of those against teammates Mark Kessens and Ethan Kumar in the semifinals, before losing by third-set tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) to Shawnee Mission East’s Gregor Wiedeman and George Kahl in the championship match. Anjakar, a junior, and Poojari, a sophomore, will return for a Jaguars team looking to complete a three-peat with all of last year’s state squad returning.
 

BRYAN BRANSTROM AND AIDEN MESSERLY, OLATHE NORTHWEST
 
Branstrom and Messerly have reached state as a doubles team in each of their first two years of high school tennis. As freshmen, the duo lost their opening-round state match against the eventual state champs. They picked up one win on the backside of the bracket before getting eliminated by their own teammates in William Stewart and Andy Harling, who was a senior at the time. Stewart and Harling won that match 9-5 on their way to a 10th place finish. When they returned as sophomores last year, it would be Branstrom and Messerly who reached the ninth-place match. The duo started the 2024 state tournament down a set against the Marrs brothers of Blue Valley Northwest, only to comeback for a 0-6, 7-5, (10-7) victory. But the Huskies’ other doubles team of Krrish Sanjanwala and Srinivasa Vel sent Branstrom and Messerly to the backside of the bracket with a 6-1, 6-2 loss in the next round. The Ravens duo won two matches before dropping a 8-6 match against Blue Valley’s Joaquin Acosta and Nicholas Lavid. Branstrom and Messerly won two more matches to close out with a ninth-place finish.
 

BLAKE BRELLENTHIN, BLUE VALLEY
 
As a freshman in 2022, Brellenthin built up a 14-4 record split between his combination of varsity and junior varsity outings. But he did not get the nod to play at regional for a team stacked with upperclassmen who led the Tigers to a fourth-place finish. Brellenthin gave doubles a try as a sophomore, partnering with Joaquin Acosta. But the duo ended up not making it through a stacked regional that contained the two senior duos who would reach the state finals, as well as two more players who reached a state final the next year. Last year, Brellenthin made the move back to singles. He ended up reaching the state semifinals before losing to the eventual state champion in Blue Valley West’s Francisco Landeras. Brellenthin then lost the third-place match against Landeras’ teammate, Jonah Stotle, falling 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
 

 

AIDEN BUSH AND JAKE HANSON, SHAWNEE MISSION EAST
 
Hanson has reached state in doubles in each of the last three years, but he made it there the first two times as a partner of George Kahl. After going from 10th in their first trip, that duo took fourth in 2023 before switching partners last year. While Kahl teamed up with fellow senior Gregor Wiedeman, Hanson ended up pairing off with a freshman in Aiden Bush. Although it did not yield the same results as it did with Kahl and Wiedeman, who went on to become the state champions in doubles, Hanson and Bush were still able to deliver a fourth-place finish for the Lancers. Their partnership also gave them the opportunity to possibly stick together for another season as Hanson heads into his senior year. The duo will have the chance to build on a 27-6 record last year.
 

CHRISTIAN CLOUGH, SHAWNEE MISSION EAST
 
Clough was one of two freshmen for Shawnee Mission East who took on singles to allow the Lancers to stack their doubles teams with upperclassmen. It worked out for the team as Shawnee Mission East put both doubles entries in the state semifinals, including a state championship finish for George Kahl and Gregor Wiedeman, who had won a state title in singles as a sophomore in 2022. Clough spent most of the season hovering around a .500 record in singles before he got off to a hot start in the postseason. He parlayed a third-place finish at the Sunflower League tournament into a run to the regional finals. There he lost 6-3, 6-3 against Blue Valley Northwest’s Luke Pennington. Clough won his opening state match before running into Pennington again in the quarterfinals. Pennington won that one 6-0, 6-0. Clough responded with an 8-0 win in his first match on the backside of the bracket, but ended up losing to Pennington’s teammate, Luca Ospino, 8-1 in the next round. His first state outing ended with a 8-5 loss to Maize’s Hayden Herrera in the seventh-place match.
 

NOLAN FOSHA, OLATHE SOUTH

After finding a rhythm early in his freshman campaign last year, Fosha went on a six-match winning streak before having five losses muddy up his record midway through the season. Those losses were against players who went on to place top five at their respective state meets, including four players who reached the state semifinals or beyond. So Fosha responded to that tough stretch by going on a 14-match winning streak that took him into the regional semifinals. During that run, he won the Sunflower League title by earning an 8-4 win over Shawnee Mission West’s Abhiraj Mukerjee, who held a 27-0 record going into that match. Fosha ended up losing five of his last seven matches to finish the year, including a rematch against Mukerjee in the ninth-place match at state. But Fosha’s big victories in his first year could end up being the building blocks for a big-time sophomore season.
 

HAYDEN HERRERA, MAIZE

Herrera, a senior, will again play singles for the Eagles after posting a 31-8 record last spring. He picked up four of his five state victories in the consolation bracket at the Class 6A tournament last year to finish seventh. That came on the heels of Herrera’s runner-up finish at the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division I tournament and a Junction City regional first-place finish in which he dropped just eight games in three matches. Herrera, who has a combined 74 career victories in singles and doubles, finished eighth in Class 5A doubles as a sophomore with Hector Baleriola-Lopez.
 

MARK KESSENS AND ETHAN KUMAR, BLUE VALLEY WEST
 
After Kessens made it state as a freshman in 2022 with then-senior Jack Contrucci, Kessens joined Kumar and a slew of other Jaguars put into a rotation of partners to figure out the team’s No. 2 doubles team heading into the postseason. Ultimately, only then-seniors Akki Poojari and David Han advanced to state in doubles, with the duo also going on to win the state title. Last year, Kessens and Kumar started out as doubles partners before entering a similar rotation of partners for the next few weeks and linking back up for the postseason run. They posted a 12-4 record heading into state, which included two losses against the Jags’ top doubles team of Anish Poojari and Aarya Anjankar. Kessen and Kumar dropped just one game across their first two state matches before they ran into Poojari and Anjankar again in the state semifinals. Poojari and Anjankar won 6-3, 6-1. In the third-place match, the duo faced Shawnee Mission East’s Jake Hanson and Aiden Bush. They had gone 1-2 against this team in the regular season, although Kessens and Kumar had each earned their respective victories with a different doubles partner. That ended up not mattering, as they won 6-1, 6-4 to take third. 
 

FRANCISCO LANDERAS, BLUE VALLEY WEST
 
As a freshman in 2022, Landeras finished as the state runner-up in singles. Whatever he needed to elevate to becoming a state champion, he couldn’t quite find it as a sophomore when he finished third. However, Landeras finally took his game to another level as a junior last season. He completed an undefeated season and finally secured that singles state championship. Landeras only dropped four games on his way to reach the state final for a second time in three years. Blue Valley Northwest’s Luke Pennington doubled the number of games taken by Landeras' opponents at state, but that was it as Landeras won 6-1, 6-3 to clinch the 6A state title in singles. His victory also helped cement the Jaguars second straight state championship as a team. Now, Landeras will see if his senior year will just add to his already large haul of accomplishments in high school tennis.
 

NICHOLAS LAVID, BLUE VALLEY
 
Lavid returns for his senior season following an eighth-place state finish in doubles last year with his partner Joaquin Acosta. The duo won their first state match 6-1, 6-4 over Manhattan’s Mason Gish and Zac Morgan before losing to Blue Valley West’s Mark Kessens and Ethan Kumar in the quarterfinals. The Tigers’ duo won their next match 8-6 over Olathe Northwest’s Bryan Branstrom and Aiden Messerly. But Lavid and Acosta were not able to get past Washburn Rural’s Lawsen Lobatos-Dick and Dylan Willingham in the next round as they lost 9-7, followed by a 8-1 loss to Blue Valley Northwest’s Krrish Sanjanwala and Srinivasa Vel in the seventh-place match. After the graduation of Acosta, Lavid will either have to find a new partner or move to singles. Blue Valley’s only other returner from last year’s state team is senior Blake Brellenthin, who took fourth in singles.
 

NATHAN LOKKO, BLUE VALLEY NORTH
 
Blue Valley North only brings back one state returner in senior Nathan Lokko after his doubles partner, Connor Engram, graduated following their fifth-place finish. Lokko and Engram won their first state match 6-0, 6-1 over Manhattan’s Michael Hwang and Jack Spiegel before losing 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) against the eventual state champions in Shawnee Mission East’s George Kahl and Gregor Wiedeman. Lokko and Engram won three straight matches, including an 8-3 win over Washburn Rural’s Lawsen Lobatos-Dick and Dylan Willingham in their fifth-place match.
 

CHRISTOPHER LONG, SHAWNEE MISSION EAST
 
Long took his lumps as one of two freshmen in the singles spots for a state title contending squad in Shawnee Mission East, but he proved his potential on the way to a sixth-place finish at state and a 27-9 record. His strong performance in the regular season took a hit when he reached the postseason. After an tough second-round loss at league against the eventual Sunflower League champ and fellow freshman in Olathe South’s Nolan Fosha, Long rode out a fifth-place finish in the tournament. But he wasn’t quite expecting a repeat of that at regionals. There he lost in the second round against a fellow freshman, and fellow teammate, in Christian Clough. Again, Long worked his way through the backside of the bracket for a fifth-place finish. At state, Long was able to avoid a repeat by winning his first two matches, including a 6-3, 6-1 win over a one-loss Abhiraj Mukerjee of Shawnee Mission East. But Long would not fare as well in the state quarterfinals, losing 6-0, 6-1 against the eventual state champion in Francisco Landeras of Blue Valley West. He followed up by winning two matches to reach the fifth-place match, but lost to Blue Valley Northwest’s Luca Ospino 8-2.
 

LUCA OSPINO, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST
 
After Ospino earned a third-place finish in doubles alongside Luke Pennington in 2023, both partners ended up taking on singles last season. For Pennington, that move resulted in a state runner-up finish. Ospino had hoped to possibly challenge his teammate for his spot in the state finals, but Ospino ended up one win short of facing Pennington in the semifinals. Blue Valley West’s Jonah Stolte sent Ospino to the backside of the bracket with a 7-5, 6-2 loss. Ospino won three straight matches to earn a fifth-place finish. Ospino returns for his junior season following a 22-6 campaign.
 

LUKE PENNINGTON, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST

After two seasons of reaching the state semifinals in doubles to start his high school career, Pennington opted to compete in singles as a junior last year. Pennington capitalized on that move, churning out a 21-4 campaign, a regional title and a state runner-up finish. He only dropped one game through two matches to reach the state semifinals. Pennington found himself down a set against Blue Valley West’s Jonah Stolte, who himself took state runner-up the previous year. But Pennington battled back to pull off the 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory and reach the state finals for the first time. There, Pennington would not have the same success against Stolte’s teammate, Francisco Landeras, who picked up the 6-1, 6-3 victory to complete an undefeated season. Pennington will return for his senior season leading a Blue Valley Northwest squad hoping to challenge two-time reigning champ Blue Valley West as the Huskies return all six members of last year’s state squad.
 

KRRISH SANJANWALA AND SRINIVASA VEL, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST
 
Sanjawala and Vel return from a seventh-place finish in doubles last year. Sanjawala had previously finished sixth in doubles as a sophomore playing with then-senior Miles Bail. Last year, Sanjawala and Vel won their opening match at state 6-1, 6-2 over Olathe Northwest’s Bryan Branstrom and Aiden Messerly before losing to Shawnee Mission East’s Jake Hanson and Aiden Bush 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The Huskies duo recovered with an 8-0 win over Derby’s Evan Clark and Coen Snowden, but were overwhelmed 8-1 in the next round against Blue Valley North’s Nathan Lokko and Connor Engram. Sanjanwala and Vel closed out state with a 8-1 win over Blue Valley North’s Nicholas Lavid and Joaquin Acosta in the seventh-place match.
 

JONAH STOLTE, BLUE VALLEY WEST
 
Stolte enters his junior season hoping he can follow the same trajectory as his teammate, Francisco Landeras. The latter went from state runner-up to a sophomore “slump” before elevating his game as Landeras won the 6A state title in singles. But when Landeras landed in the third-place match in 2023, it was Stolte who reached the state finals. Stolte’s runner-up finish was also followed by a third-place finish. He beat Blue Valley Northwest’s Luca Ospino in the state quarterfinals, but could not do the same against Ospino’s teammate, Luke Pennington, in the semifinals. Stolte won the first set, but Pennington stormed back with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. Stolte recovered with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win over Blue Valley senior Blake Brellenthin in the third-place match. It will be interesting to see if Stolte can also respond the same way to that finish as Landeras did two years ago. Of course, Stolte also still has Landeras as a possible obstacle to replicating a junior-year state championship victory. The two Jaguars split victories in 2023 before Landeras went undefeated last year, but the two have also still not faced off against each other at state. Their only postseason battle was Landeras beating Stolte 6-4, 6-2 in last year’s regional finals.
 

DYLAN WILLINGHAM, WASHBURN RURAL
 
Willingham is a two-time Centennial League doubles champion, teaming with Lawson Lobatos-Dick a year ago after teaming with Kiefer Von Lintel his freshman season. He and Lobatos-Dick also captured the Topeka City doubles championship and finished sixth at the Class 6A state tournament, compiling a 28-6 record. They reached the state quarterfinals before losing to the top-seeded team at the state tourney from Blue Valley West and then won their way in the consolation bracket to the fifth-place match where they fell 8-3 to Blue Valley North’s Connor Engram and Nathan Lokko. Willingham also went 5-1 in his single matches last year and in his career owns a 44-9 doubles record and 8-2 singles record. If he returns to doubles this year, Willingham will have his third different partner after Lobatos-Dick graduated.