By Noah Poser

If Lane assistant coach Darren Olson ever gets tired of coaching tennis, he may have a future as a fortuneteller.

Because while the recent sustained success of Lane’s boys tennis program may come as a surprise to some, don’t count Olson among those who have been caught off guard.

Why? Because he saw it coming.

“We have three freshmen in doubles and one in singles. We’re very young and have a lot of promise for this program now (in winning a city title) and in future years.”

Fresh off winning the 2023 city title, these were the sentiments of Olson regarding the state of the Lane boys tennis program.

Just two years later, with the Champions having achieved a rare three-peat with their victory at the 2025 CPL Boys Varsity Tennis Championship on Friday, May 16, Olson’s words look less like your typical bit of coach’s optimism and more like the beginning of a prophecy that has now been fulfilled.

With the aforementioned young talent now having grown into experienced upperclassmen, Lane dominated the day once again at Riis Park, taking titles in four out of five brackets, including both singles titles for the third year in a row, to cruise to the overall team title.

Lane finished the tournament with 27 points, while Young finished with 20 points to secure second place and Payton took third place with 16 points.

In No. 1 singles, Lane senior Marko McRae defeated Kenwood junior Nhylan Westmoreland in the final for the third year in a row with a decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory.

The match, the last of McRae’s CPL career, ensures that McRae, who leaves this year’s city championships having won three consecutive No. 1 singles titles and four individual singles city titles overall, will finish his high school career undefeated in match play in CPL-sponsored matches.

“It feels great honestly, because I worked so hard to get to this point,” McRae said. “I know it doesn’t seem like it because of all the wins, but there were so many ups and downs along the way and I’m just happy I could finish off my CPL career with another city title.”

For Lane, McRae wasn’t the only player to defend his title either.

Junior Feriyadi Hasnovi went back-to-back in No. 2 singles courtesy of beating Payton junior Varun Viges 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

After winning the title this year, Hasnovi has a much clearer picture of what he’s hoping to achieve for the rest of the season and next season as well.

“Going into sectionals and state, I have a better mindset than I did last year,” Hasnovi said. “Last year, I definitely took the experience for granted, but I realize now that I have less and less time in high school, so I have to work harder, but also have a little bit more fun on the court too if I want to win more matches and achieve my goals.

“And then next year, I’m looking to win another city title and go for my own three-peat.”

Also looking to defend an individual title for Lane was senior Henry Bleck, who this year partnered up with Phillip Castillo and managed to take home a second straight title in No. 3 doubles, with the duo defeating Young’s pairing of Henry Alessia and Eduard Liberzon in a three-set thriller.

Bleck and Castillo, in the final match of the day, fought from three match points down in a third set super-tiebreak to earn victory.

“A lot of it comes down to your mental game,” Bleck said. “Obviously the wind was super heavy today and it’s so hot outside, so whoever was going to be able to overcome those factors was going to win the match and we kind of just walked it back when we were down 6-9 and stayed in it and kept fighting.”

In No. 1 doubles, Young’s duo of Koushik Sengupta and Paras Cherukuri were the lone non-Lane winners of the day, taking down Payton’s Henry O’Toole and Eytan Lanski in the final as Parasi joined his older brother Chetan Cherukuri in claiming an individual CPL city title.

The duo of Alex Lapins and Sean Meyer were also individual bracket champions for Lane, winning No. 2 doubles in an upset victory over Young’s Atticus Peterson and James Ward.

But while the individual titles are memories the players will always have to cherish, at the end of the day it’s a team game.

And Lane head coach Josh Park, as well as Olson, couldn’t have been more proud of their team.

“This win is very fulfilling, to put it succinctly,” Park said. “We knew coming into today that we would have a huge target on our backs, but to the boys’ credit, they went out there, stayed focused and executed when it mattered the most.”

“We’ve built a great program,” Olson said. “I see very good things for us in the future.”

Photos by Hannah Henderson/OSA