CLASS 5A BOYS TENNIS PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2026
 
 

ANDREW CHAN, ANDOVER

Chan, a junior, made the most of his one season with the now-graduated Isaac Homan, as the doubles team won the Class 5A championship last spring with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Trey Lacy and John Korfhage. The Trojan duo posted a 34-3 record, also claiming Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail II and regional titles. Chan and Homan dropped two early-season matches to eventual third-place state finishers Jaxon Post and Elias Kachelmeier of Andover Central, but came back to defeat them three times, including at league and regionals. Chan is Andover’s lone returning state qualifier from a team that won its first boys team title in 22 years.
 

 

BRAEDEN DUGAN AND GABE WEBER, BISHOP CARROLL
 
Dugan, a sophomore, and Weber, a senior, collected a Greater Wichita Athletic League title and fourth-place finishes in the Arkansas City regional and Class 5A tournament last season in the first year of their partnership. The duo posted a 22-8 mark, reaching the state semifinals with a pair of straight-set victories before falling to eventual champions Isaac Homan and Andrew Chan of Andover. Dugan and Weber emerged from a challenging regional that produced the top four finishing doubles teams at state. They helped the Golden Eagles finish second to Andover in the 5A team competition.
 

WILL FELSKI AND WILL NASH, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

St. Thomas Aquinas will lean on a familiar doubles pairing this season as Felski, a senior, and Nash, a junior, return after a solid 2025 campaign. The Saints duo compiled a 16-9 record a year ago and capped their season with a ninth-place finish at the Class 5A state tournament. Felski and Nash showed resilience on the state stage, closing their season with an 8-6 victory over Blue Valley Southwest’s Vidhu Reddy and Saket Jagannath in the ninth-place match. With that experience under their belt, the pair enters this spring as a proven tandem capable of climbing higher on the podium. 
 

EVAN GOATES, MAIZE SOUTH
 
Goates enters his senior season as the reigning 5A singles champion after capping a 29-2 campaign with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Arkansas City’s Dawson O’Donnell in the state final. Goates’ title run was much bigger than one match, as he avenged a regional final loss to Bishop Carroll’s Brandon Steven in the state semis to kick off the final day of the 2025 season, defeating the Golden Eagle 6-2, 7-6 (5) after trailing 4-0 in the second set. That earned Goates a spot in his second straight 5A final, where he atoned for a 2024 loss to Blue Valley Southwest’s Sanjay Rajkumar. The left-handed Goates also took eighth at state as a freshman, and enters 2026 with a 80-13 career record.
 

BAIRD GREENAMYRE AND JOHNNY VOGEL, PIPER

Piper’s senior doubles team of Vogel and Greenamyre enters the season as one of the top returning tandems in the United Kansas Conference after a breakout junior campaign. The pair put together a 33-5 record a year ago, capturing UKC and regional titles before finishing seventh at the Class 5A state tournament. Now seniors, both bring plenty of experience to the court. Vogel, the program’s all-time wins leader with 72 career victories, has been a consistent presence at the state level with multiple appearances in both singles and doubles. Greenamyre has also proven himself as a versatile contributor, qualifying for state in both singles and doubles during his career. 
 

SAKET JAGANNATH AND VIDHU REDDY, BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST

Experience and continuity have become the calling card for Blue Valley Southwest’s top doubles team of Reddy and Jagannath. Now entering their third straight season together, the senior duo has firmly established itself as one of the most consistent tandems in the area. Jagannath brings prior state success to the court after finishing fourth in doubles as a freshman alongside Vishal Rajkumar, and since pairing with Reddy, the two have taken hold of the Timberwolves’ No. 1 doubles spot and never looked back. Their progression has been steady and promising. Reddy and Jagannath captured a regional championship in 2024 and have shown continued growth on the state stage, improving from an 11th-place finish in 2024 to 10th in 2025. 
 

 ELIAS KACHELMEIER, ANDOVER CENTRAL
 
Kachelmeier enters his junior season in search of his third doubles partner in as many seasons after placing at state each of his first two years. He and the now-graduated Jaxon Post split a pair of three-set matches on last season’s final day to finish third in Class 5A doubles with a 30-4 record. Kachelmeier and Post, who finished second in the Arkansas City regional, dropped a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (4) duel with Kapaun’s John Korfhage and Trey Lacy in the state semifinals before rebounding to rally past Bishop Carroll’s Gabriel Weber and Braeden Dugan 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third-place match. Kachelmeier finished 10^th with classmate Henry Walker at state their freshman season. Walker played singles last year, and is expected to again. Kachelmeier has 54-20 career doubles mark.
 

JOHN KORFHAGE, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL
 
Korfhage’s two-year run with now-graduated Trey Lacy came to a close last season with a runner-up finish in Class 5A doubles to Andover’s Isaac Homan and Andrew Chan. The Crusader duo had a flair for the dramatic at state, finishing fourth in 2024 after entering the tournament as the 12^th seed and knocking off the No. 5 and No. 4 seeds to reach the semifinals. Last year, their run included a three-set rally in the opening match and a three-set semifinal win over Andover Central’s Jaxon Post and Elias Kachelmeier in a match that stretched nearly three hours. Korfhage, one of four seniors on this year’s roster, went 26-7 with Lacy last spring.
 

 

BRAXTON NICHOLSON AND GABRIEL SHAFFER, VALLEY CENTER
 
Nicholson and Shaffer return for their senior season as the reigning Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail I doubles champions. The Hornet duo posted a 21-10 record last season, finishing eighth at state after a fifth-place showing in the challenging Arkansas City regional. It was the second state medal for Shaffer, who finished 12^th in 5A with Nico Azcorra after the duo won a regional title. Nicholson is also a two-time state qualifier, advancing in singles as a sophomore. Shaffer has won 49 matches and Nicholson 46 over the last two seasons as they renew their partnership for a final run.
 

LUKE NIESEN, ST. JAMES ACADEMY

Niesen enters the spring looking to build on an already accomplished career for the Thunder. A key piece of one of the state’s premier programs, Niesen is coming off a standout doubles season alongside his brother, Sam. The pair earned a fifth-place medal at the Class 5A state tournament, highlighted by an 8-2 victory over Andover’s John Rather and Pierce Anderson. They also earned a regional championship. Niesen is no stranger to team success either, having been part of St. James Academy’s first state championship squad as a freshman. Now a team captain and three-sport athlete, he brings both leadership and experience to the Thunder lineup. 

 

NIDHISH PADMANABAN, BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST

After gaining valuable experience as a freshman, Blue Valley Southwest’s Nidhish Padmanaban is poised for a breakout sophomore campaign. Padmanaban made a strong impression in his first high school season, teaming with senior Jacob Cook in doubles and steadily developing into a strong team. By season’s end, that growth translated into an 11th-place finish at the Class 6A state tournament—an achievement that set the stage for what’s ahead. Now, Padmanaban steps into an even bigger role. The sophomore will take over the Timberwolves’ No. 1 singles position, replacing former state champion Sanjay Rajkumar. It’s a significant jump, but one he appears ready for after putting in extensive offseason work. 
  

BRANDON STEVEN, BISHOP CARROLL
 
Steven completed a solid freshman campaign with a 25-2 record, league and regional titles, and a third-place singles finish in 5A. He entered state as the No. 2 seed after defeating 2024 state runner-up Evan Goates of Maize South for the Arkansas City regional title. Goates avenged the loss to Steven in the state semifinals, but Steven bounced back to avenge his lone regular-season loss to ’24 state champion Sanjay Rajkumar in the third-place match. Steven also notched victories over two-time regional champion Hayden Herrera of Maize and 5A regional winner Kyle King of Eisenhower in his first high school season. 
 

HENRY WALKER, ANDOVER CENTRAL
 
Walker, a junior, will most likely spend his second straight season focusing on singles after finishing sixth in the 5A state tournament a year ago. After qualifying for state in doubles as a freshman and finishing 10^th with Elias Kachelmeier, Walker went solo and posted a 20-11 record last spring, finishing fourth at regionals to earn the state berth. Walker, who has a 27-17 career doubles mark, helped the Jaguars to second- and third-place team finishes in 5A his first two seasons.