Monroe has new tennis courts and two teams have new coaches

There is a new look to high school tennis in Monroe for 2025.

There are new courts and two new faces in the coaching ranks.

The new courts are at Monroe High where the courts at the school had gone decades without any major upgrades.

A summer project to get them resurfaced began as soon as school ended in June. Work was completed in time for the first practice this fall.

“Compared to the old courts that were slick, now we have good friction and the ball is hopping,” Reau said.

The upgrades were long overdue. Reau, who graduated from Monroe in 2006, could not remember the courts ever getting attention.

This year’s upgrades include a color change. The courts themselves still are green, but the surrounding area has been changed to red, one of the school’s primary colors.

“Making calls is much easier,” Reau said. “It used to be green on green.”

The Trojans are proud of their new home.

“The guys are super excited,” Reau said. “They keep asking me when the next home match is. They have a lot of pride now.”

One of the two new coaches is not so new.

Bill Ryan, a Bedford graduate and former tennis player there, is taking over the boys team after coaching the girls in the past.

The new man in charge at St. Mary Catholic Central is John Sorovetz. He took the job just two days before the season began.

“They didn’t have anybody so my wife (Judy) and I said we would do it until they find somebody,” Sorovetz said. “I’ve played some tennis and my wife played in high school. I coached baseball for a long time.”

Since then, they have added an assistant, Chris Cavazos.

The Falcons will be extremely young.

“We have seven freshmen and six of them didn’t even own a racket,” he said. “They are sucking in the lessons and learning early well. In a couple of weeks, we’re going to be way, way better than we are now.”

AIRPORT

Coach: Jerry Eshcheck, 28th year.

Top players: Seniors Michael McDaniel, Gavin Linderman, Alex Jacob, Seth Lassiter; juniors Tristan Ball, Jacob Bacon.

Season outlook: The Jets only had 10 players, two shy of the minimum to fill a full lineup. Escheck is hoping to find a few more players.

Coach’s comments: “The guys have been working hard and steadily improving. It will look like an entirely different team by mid-October. It is always exciting to work with new and inexperienced players.”

BEDFORD

Coach: Bill Ryan, first year.

Top players: Seniors Cain Cole, Malakai Gorczyca; juniors Landon Sparks, Gabe Armstrong; sophomore Kyle Burger; freshman Grant Armstrong.

Season outlook: Sparks and Gabe Armstrong will move into the top singles positions after putting in a lot of work on their games during the offseason. Gorczyca and Burger move to singles after winning a regional title at No. 4 doubles last season. Cole and Grant Armstrong will play No. 1 doubles.

Coach’s comments: “We have more and more guys playing year around which is exciting.  We are young, but athletic and talented.  Our freshman class has really good depth and talent this year.  Our goal is always to qualify for the state tournament.  We missed it by one point last year.”

GIBRALTAR CARLSON

Coach: Rocco Giorgi, 20th year.

Top players: Seniors Kyle Salisbury, Joe Borowski, Chase Moore, Grayson Moll; juniors Kenny Schwab-Jones, Jakoby Schwab-Jones, Ethan Shank, Kyron Fernando, Charlie Abbott; sophomore Liam Eighmey; freshman Lucca Giorgi.

Season outlook: This is the 20th season of Carlson tennis and Giorgi has coached the Marauders the entire time. They are defending the Downriver League championship with Salisbury and Borowski expected to fill the top two singles spots.

Coach’s comments: “Very young team with a lot of talent.  We will see how it goes. Hopefully can compete for another league title. Pretty cool experience to have my son playing this year as well.”

MILAN

Coach: Nate Rodriguez, 18th year.

Top players: Seniors: Zach Farmer, Matt Fink, Stevie Garcia, Will Kliber, Zach Weathers; juniors Andrew Biederman, Vincent Bodziak, Alec Cicotte, Josh Denham, Ryan Hatfield, Luke Podnar, Carter Smith.

Season outlook: Cicotte moves into the No. 1 singles spot. Fink, Kliber, Denham, Farmer, Bodziak, Weathers and Hatfield all were starters last year.

Coach’s comments: “While we will miss four seniors from the top of last year’s lineup, we are returning a deeper team this year.  There’s a lot of close competition for varsity spots and it’s shaping up to be a great season.”

MONROE

Coach: Stephen Reau, eighth year.

Top players: Senior Max Hassett; sophomore Levi Duran.

Season outlook: Monroe is be playing on freshly resurfaced courts this fall. The singles lineup will be experience, but freshmen will be counted on to fill out the doubles duos.

Coach’s comments: “The top half of my lineup is the strongest I have had in boys tennis in a few years. They all can compete at a high level, and I am encouraged to see how they handle the tough SEC Red Division.”

SMCC

Coach: John Sorovetz, first year.

Top players: Seniors Xander Memije, Zeke Shafer; junior John Sorvetz; sophomore Ben Fitzgerald.

Season outlook: Fitzgerald has been playing No. 1 singles.

Coach’s comments: “The guys are learning fast. The freshmen are really gung ho.”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monore High School Tennis preview for the 2025 season