Homestead came as close last season as any team possibly could to winning a state championship without actually hoisting the trophy.
The Spartans reached the state championship and won a pair of singles matches, but they ultimately fell short in a 3-2 loss as Carmel won its 16th state title.
The Spartans and the rest of northeast Indiana will get another shot this year in the state finals Oct. 23-24. Teams returned to practice Monday, and matches will begin Aug. 15, leaving six weeks until sectional play gets underway.
Here is a look at what to watch this season.
Players
Oliver Derrow, DeKalb: Derrow, a senior, is the only returning All-State singles pick in the area after earning honorable mention recognition for the second time from the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association. He helped the Barons to their first sectional title since 2022 and provided their only win in a regional matchup with Carroll, beating fellow All-State honoree Andrew Jamison.
Jack Klinger, Bishop Luers: Klinger was the No. 1 singles player for a Luers team that stormed through the SAC undefeated last year. He went unbeaten in conference play to earn All-SAC honors.
Silas Edwards, East Noble: Edwards split time between singles and doubles and earned 20 victories last season as a sophomore. He and doubles partner Gray Mullins, now graduated, earned honorable mention All-State honors and second-team recognition in the Northeast 8, reaching the sectional final before falling. At singles, he won the No. 3 slot at the DeKalb Invitational.
Marshall Treesh, Blackhawk Christian: Treesh played No. 1 singles late in the season for the sectional champion Braves as a freshman in 2025 and finished 15-7. He took third at No. 2 singles in the Bluffton Invitational and beat Edwards 6-3, 2-6 (12-10) in the Wildwood Boys Spring Open in April.
Alex Hall, Columbia City: The senior was All-NE8 first team in singles last year and also played some doubles, going toe to toe with DeKalb’s all-conference pairing of David Burton and Logan Hartsough in a 5-7, 4-6 classic won by the Baron duo.
Teams
Homestead: After a 26-2 finish last year, Homestead will have to reload. Joe Garrean, who last year became the first freshman in Indiana history to win the individual singles title, is not playing high school tennis but rather working with pros around the country. Senior Will Miller, who was honorable mention All-State in doubles, is the lone returner.
Carroll: The Chargers have won back-to-back regional titles after having just one in their program’s history prior to 2024. They return every member of the varsity except for Jamison, including the honorable mention All-State doubles team of Sam Mettler and Jack Jones.
DeKalb: The Barons reached the regional championship match last year before falling to Carroll, 4-1. The return of Derrow and fellow first-team all-NE8 pick Wyatt Knepper at No. 2 singles provides a high floor for the two-time defending NE8 champions as they try to win back-to-back sectional crowns for the first time since 2019 and 2020. No. 3 singles Liam Schlatter is also back.
Blackhawk Christian: The Braves have won the first two sectional titles in program history the last two years and last season had a team composed almost entirely of sophomores, including No. 2 singles John Dykstra, and the freshman Treesh.
Bishop Luers: The Knights stormed to their first SAC title since 2016 last season, not only going 7-0 in conference play but not losing a single match the entire league season. They reached the sectional final before falling to Homestead. This year, they return Klinger, fellow first-team All-SAC singles pick Jackson Keirns and two-time All-SAC doubles selection Brandtly Hikeas members of a decorated 2027 class that is in its fourth year headlining the program.
Storylines
Keeping up: Homestead has won 44 sectional titles, the fifth-most in state history. Each of the top four – Munster (52), Columbus North (48), North Central (47) and Jasper (45) – joined the Spartans in winning a championship last year, but a slip by any of them could help 12-time defending champion Homestead climb.
New champ: With Garrean relinquishing his title, there will be a new individual state singles champion for the seventh year in a row. The last time the area won back-to-back individual titles was in 1996 (Oliver Cantrell, North Side) and 1997 (Rick Phillipp, Homestead).
Get over the hump: Carroll has won three regional titles this decade but is still looking for the first semistate crown in program history after losses in that round to Penn and Noblesville the last two years. With so much returning, they have a shot to hoist the trophy for the first time.
Getting it rolling: Bluffton won just one sectional between 2003 to 2023 but has now won two in a row under two different coaches after Spencer Schwartz followed Robert Vanderkolk. Schwartz is back this year as the Tigers chase a fifth ACAC title in a row and their first sectional three-peat since 2000-02.
Is this the year? A team from northeast Indiana has never won a state championship in boys tennis since the tournament was first held in 1967. Homestead earned the area’s 11th runner-up finish last year.