After a long offseason, the boys’ tennis team opened up their 2025 season with a loss to Montgomery Blair High School, 4-3. The Cats held their ground against one of the toughest teams in the county but the Blazers found a way to get the better of the Cats for the second year in a row.
Although the rematch had a repeat winner, the scoreboard reflects a different story. The Cats were demolished in seven straight matches in their test against the Blazers last year but grabbed wins in single three, doubles one and doubles three in their season opener last Friday afternoon.
“Overall, we showed a lot of improvement from last year because it was only 3-4 this year so we were super close to winning,” sophomore Ashvin Ellentuck said. “I feel that a lot of people on our team have gotten better and that made it a closer score.”
Leading the team to those three wins were recently announced senior captains Seyun Park and Matthew Tan, and the rare underclassman captain in sophomore Om Shah. The three will help settle the nerves of a team that has a lot of unknowns.
The team now also has North Bethesda Middle School teacher Chase Rieder as their new head coach. Hired after being an assistant girls’ flag football coach in the fall, Rieder has already taken that experience and drastically impacted the culture of WJ tennis.
“He’s been really good with building team culture,” Ellentuck. “Last year, we didn’t do many team events, like bonding stuff, but we’ve already had a team lunch. He’s been really good with organizing stuff and doing things for the team.”
The team hopes to flip the close results such as Blair and will continue to find its footing as they compete in one of the hardest conferences in the state.
“We just need more practice and as the season goes, we’re going to get better,” Shah said. “A bunch of guys have mistakes to clean up but we should be good to go.”
Even with hopes set high, the team has been hindered with news that star senior Brady MacBride was deemed ineligible to play by the MPSSAA. A state champion in 2023 and the team’s expected singles number one player, MacBride has been forced to the sideline.
“It’s definitely a lot different because we got to find different players for different positions and all that so it’s definitely a big change but we’re going to handle it well,” Tan said.
MacBride and the team are still making the best of the situation as MacBride can still be seen regularly at practice and cheering on his team.
“He’s still been great with being there, with coaching and helping us,” Ellentuck said. “Even though he can’t actually play, he’s been very impactful on us.”
The Cats take on Damascus this afternoon in Damascus at 3:30 p.m. as they seek their first win of the season.
