There weren’t any championships won by the Potomac School Panthers in boys tennis this spring, but the high-school team was high in the mix in two postseason tournaments, finishing second in one and reaching the semifinals of another.
With eight new players on this year’s squad, the Panthers were the runner-up in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference tourney to Sidwell Friends, after finishing second with a 5-1 mark in regular-season play. Then, they were the fourth seed in the Division I private-school state playoffs, finishing 1-1, with a 5-1 season-ending loss to top seed Collegiate in the semifinals, after blanking St. Paul VI Catholic, 5-0, in the first round.
Potomac School’s five losses were to three teams (Bishop Ireton was the other), which all were at the top or near the top of their leagues this spring. Overall, Potomac School had a 15-5 record in dual matches, winning four times by 4-3 scores.
“This was a resilient and hard-working team,” Potomac School coach Chris Caskin said. “We improved every week. We won so many close matches with contributors from top to bottom, making it a full team effort.”
Leading Potomac School were all-MAC selections Teddy Courtauld, Andrew Mu and Cooper Schirmeier. Courtauld also was chosen first-team all-state and Mu made second team.
Against Collegiate, Courtauld and Mu won their No. 1 doubles match. Courtauld’s overall record this season was 17-2 and Mu’s 16-3. Freshman Shlok Kuchanagi was the other top player, having a 12-5 record.
Team captains were Cooper Schirmeier, Henry Stein and Arav Bhargava.
Other players were Aidan Corwin, Chase Edwards, Nikhil Kothari, Zachary London, Sawyer Mansfield, Daniel Overdeck, Wyatt Pearce, Jeffrey Wiley and Jack Winslow.
