The Florida high school tennis season saw its first serves this week with the opening of regular season matchups on Feb. 2.

Palm Beach County varsity tennis teams are annually among the best in Florida with teams from American Heritage-Delray, Saint Andrew’s and more typically in the mix for state tournaments in late April and early May.

Last season, five local squads reached the FHSAA state semifinals: American Heritage-Delray‘s boys won the Class 2A title, Saint Andrew’s’ boys were 1A runner-up while Grandview Prep‘s girls were 1A runner-up, Benjamin’s girls reached the 1A semifinals and Wellington’s girls finished in the 4A state semifinals.

Recent: American Heritage-Delray honors legendary coach with court naming

Here’s a preseason list of Palm Beach County tennis teams and players to watch this spring:

GIRLS TENNIS

Benjamin

There will be another Navarro to haunt Palm Beach County opponents. Maria Navarro, a state singles finalist in 2024 and 2025 as a freshman and sophomore, now has her sister, Michaela on the squad.

Maria Navarro, a junior, will still play first singles and is a state-title threat also in doubles. Michaela will roll into the second slot as a freshman.

“Michaela is a bigger ball striker,’’ coach Leon Oliver said. “She plays very aggressive.’’

Maria Navarro has committed to Ohio State and her younger sister will be in line for a tennis scholarship. Maria Navarro and Milana Ronert made the state doubles final and lost in a three-set match.

Benjamin won the 1A District 8 championship and should be a favorite again with sophomore Louisa Kaprios also a weapon. 

Dreyfoos School of the Arts  

Dreyfoos is coming off one of its best seasons ever: 15-2 in the regular season, runner-up to powerful American-Heritage in its district and a semifinal appearance in the regionals.

It’s truly a family affair at Dreyfoos as the scholarly school will possess three sets of twins. The identical twins are freshmen Anika and Shweta Allani and sophomores Olivia and Sofia Yuricek.

The fraternal twins are Cici and Vivi Cox, both juniors.

A 2025 stalwart, Scarlett Huang moves up to second singles and Cecily Mendelson will be at 4. Huang is the senior class rank No. 1 and Huang is valedictorian. (The two honors are calculated differently).

There’s also another interesting family pair. The head coach remains former University of Kentucky star Marina Ratchford, who has enlisted her husband, Joseph, to be a volunteer assistant this season as he played Division III tennis.

Dreyfoos plays at the Tennis Club of Palm Beach, sharing the blue clay with Cardinal Newman’s tennis program.

Saint Andrew’s

It was a slight off year for the Scots’ girls in 2025. Their nine-year streak of winning its district came to an end at the hands of Grandview Prep, which gets players in a partnership with the Evert Tennis Academy.

The Scots should be the favorites this year as Grandview Prep lost its top player, district champion, Victoria Cajiges, who is playing too many junior tournaments to make the commitment.

Scots freshman Sophia Osipova and sophomore Amalia Von Maltzahn are new team members who will make an impact.

The returning No. 1, Isa Gonzalez, now a freshman, is back and will compete to hold her top spot. Another top-5 player is eighth grader Mercedes Laub.

Saint Andrew’s has a hugely deep program as others competing for playing time are sophomores Belle Vole, Aylin Ekmekci, Bella Kurstin, Stella Pollock and Milie Cochrane. Freshman Taylor Zakin and senior Sabrina Greenberg also could get a look.

Spanish River

The always prosperous program will bring back its top two singles players. They are sisters, senior Jessica Popescu, and sophomore Brianna Pepscu. The older sister was out last season with injury.

The sisters form a vaunted first doubles team. Brianna, playing at 1 with her sister absent, won the singles 4A District4 12 championship while the girls won the team title, too.

The rest of the lineup features sophomore Laura Wadolowski, junior Alexis Denisova, sophomore Abigail Schnierer and sophomore Emma Colby.

Wellington

Wellington team may be as superior as the squad that went all the way to the state semifinals, losing to the eventual champions, Miami Palmetto.

But the Wolverines, who have won two straight regional titles, have reloaded after losing last season’s senior mainstays, Scarlett Stephens and Keira Uter. They are playing at Capital University in Ohio and Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, respectively.

“We’re gonna be a team to watch this year,” coach Peter Lang said.

Junior superstar Raya Dittfurth returns at first singles after finishing second in the states, losing in the final against a senior from Stoneman Douglas.  It was Raya’s only loss of the season. ‘

Replacing the Uter-Stephens tandem are three juniors who all played in Districts, regionals and state matches the past two seasons. They are  Anushka Nadu, Laasya Movva, Jayden Jaraczeski. The younger sister of Movva, Asmila, will likely round out the top 5.

“We will have some challenging matches this year, but I am confident this team will perform as well, if not better than last year,’’ Lang said.

There are also depth pieces in senior Ella Jiveh, junior Lar Sakamoto and sophomore Izzy Oceaner.

BOYS TENNIS

Saint Andrew’s

Saint Andrew’s will once again be a state team title contender and their No. 1 singles player, Rafael Bote, is the individual state title favorite.

Bote won the singles individual state title last year as a sophomore and is UTR rating is up to 11.74.

Last season, the Scots lost in the state finals to True North. Two seniors Colin Wheat and Gabe Dattels, junior Adrian Fente and two new freshman, Oliver Limon and Yuping Dai will compete for top-5 singles slots.

 Coach Reid Rafter, who has built a tennis dynasty off Jog Road in Boca Raton, is 100 percent this season after undergoing multiple surgeries in 2025 while coaching through it.    

West Boca Raton

The West Boca Raton boys’ team has its two top players returning – senior captain, David Stanecue, who was named valedictorian. Stanecue overcame a handful of injuries in the last 12 months, becoming  one of elite singles and doubles players in the county.

His outstanding doubles partner, junior Brayden Amey, has upped his UTR to over 10.

In addition, West Boca has intriguing newcomers – Michael Skolnick and Aiden Dale. Juan Rodriguez, a senior who has been on the team three years, will be a factor. Martha Whitacker is entering her seventh season as  Bulls head coach.

Saint John Paul II

Coming off a powerful season, the Eagles will be road warriors in 2026 as its home court at Patch Reef Park in Boca undergoes a revamp. Saint John Paul has only a couple of courts to practice on, and all their matches will be away.

Senior Danny Stranberg will be at the helm and is looking at college tennis. The tall junior, Daniel Naya, is at No. 2 and a strong new freshman, Luke Burega, will play at 3.

The Stranberg-Naya 1-2 punch is as good as it gets in Palm Beach County. “His game has really moved forward,’’ coach Ann-Marie Chist said of Naya. “Looking for some great stuff from him. He’s built to cover lots of court with the wingspan and leg length that can really make him a threat.’’

Senior Ryder Simmel (senior) is the silent killer and the Eagles added talented freshman, Luke Burega at fourth singles.

Boca Raton High

Boca’s No. 1 singles player, junior Enzo Carvalho, got to states last season in singles and won the 4A District 12 championship at first singles. He also won the district title in first doubles this year with returnee Oscar Crowe.

The head coach is Sheila Townsend, the mother of tour doubles star, southpaw Taylor Townsend. Technically, Taylor has her high school diploma from Boca, though she was in a USTA home-schooling program.

Grandview Prep

The Boca Raton private school qualified for the 2025 regionals after finishing runner-up to St. Andrew’s in districts.

Coach Bucky Adams returns a superior squad, even though it lost its first singles. Junior Will McTavish will inherit the spot with a 9.27 UTR in his first year with Grandview Prep.  At 2, tall junior Dudley Wilson will return after initially deciding to forgo high-school tennis.

Luke Kertenis is a freshman who will play at No. 3 for the second straight season. Adid Sadhu is an 8^th-grade newcomer. Zander Hellemons will be at 5. Most of the roster attends the Evert Tennis Academy and takes classes on that campus.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County high school tennis: Teams and players to watch