“Last year was a great season; we made it into the finals of team, singles, and doubles districts, something that hadn’t been done in 10 years, falling only to Cathedral Prep in all three events,” said Warren coach Thomas Pellegrino. “We did lose some core players from that D10 finalist squad in four-year number one and three-time region player of the year Logan Fincher, number-two singles and two-time region all-star Mark Lynds, and one of our strongest doubles players and two-time region all-star Owen Stradburg. Unfortunately, we also lost senior Hugh Harrison for the season as he is recovering from an injury… We are still bringing back senior and three-year singles starter Abe Wolf, who will be leading the charge for us at first singles this year; junior Adam Strandburg, who will be in the 2 slot this year after starting in second/first doubles his first two seasons; and Jack Lynds, who played second doubles for us for the majority of last season.

“We have 17 players on the team this year and have a great group of competitive athletes all looking to improve and continue the success of the program,” said Pellegrino. “Expectations this year remain the same; we want to capture the Region 1 title for the fourth consecutive year and try to get back into the District 10 finals.”

In addition to seniors Wolf and Harrison, the roster includes 10 juniors — Brody Alexander, Carson Moore, Jack Lynds, Adam Strandburg, Ben Scott, Collin Ellis, Elliott Striker, Finn Ordiway, Grady Corey, and Jack Napolitan; three sophomores — Josh Westover, Owen Baldensberger, and Lucas Thrift; and freshmen Tobiah Reinard and Bill Bennett.

“The mentality this year is that we need to get to work,” said Pellegrino. “We are going into the season as underdogs for the first time in a while and these region wins won’t come easy. Greenville and Hickory both have their whole squads back from last year and want nothing more than to take us down. We plan on taking it one match at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves. You only play each region opponent once so we have no room for error… We knew this year would be a challenge so we got to work over the winter and the kids were putting in four to six hours a week at our off-season drills and clinics at the Lakewood YMCA.

A key loss to the Warren boys tennis team is three-time Region Player of the Year Logan Fincher. File Photo by Mark Evans

“I think our strengths are in our numbers,” he said. “We continue to have one of the larger rosters in the district, which definitely helps out when it comes to the big matches. It is always nice having your teammates there supporting you and encouraging you during competitive matches. Many people tend to forget this is very much a team sport and we will always play it as such.”

Pellegrino said he and the Dragons root for former assistant coach Travis Myler — now head men’s and women’s coach at Edinboro University — from afar. He said Warren is blessed to have longtime coaches Mike Kiehl, Norm Dziendziel, and Nate Sandberg as coaches.

“I think most teams would look at our roster and think the loss of four starters makes us a weaker squad when, in fact, it may be the opposite,” said Pellegrino. “These boys are out to prove a point and capture a Region 1 title.

“The leader of this squad is obvious in our number-one singles player Abe Wolf,” said the coach. “He has played third singles for us the last two seasons and has consistently pulled off big wins for us over the years. He has been a part of three straight region championship teams and has made it well known to his teammates this will not be a down year. The expectation is a title and that’s what he’s pushing them to work for. Adam Strandburg will also be a captain for us this year where he will be playing second singles. He has an impressive doubles record over the last two seasons and is a player that leads by example. He sets the tone in practices by pushing himself in drills and always helping some of the younger guys out. Carson Moore has been playing some great tennis since the winter and will be playing third singles for us this year. He was primarily a doubles player the last couple years but has transitioned seamlessly into his singles game, picking up some early-season wins in our scrimmage against Hickory and match against Harbor Creek.

“In doubles action this year, we have not solidified the best pairings just yet, but do see returning starter Jack Lynds and sophomore Lucas Thrift making an impact on the region at first doubles,” added Pellegrino. “Both are great athletes and like to get to the net and put the ball away. We will lean on them this year to take some pressure off our singles guys early in matches. Brody Alexander and Tobiah Reinard have started off the season in second doubles and have begun to mesh well together in the last couple of weeks. ‘T’ is a freshman who has played for a couple years and has the strokes paired with varsity experience from Brody. We believe the two have potential to be very successful this season and be a dominant force for us in the second doubles slot. Ben Scott, Collin Ellis, and Elliott Striker have been very close in matches with our doubles pairs above and will also be competing for some varsity doubles time this season.

“Short-term goals include improving day after day and developing the skills needed to capture some of these big region matches,” said Pellegrino. “We plan on taking it match by match this year with all focus and preparation being on the next match on the schedule. Long term goals include winning the Region 1 title, winning the Tri-County Tournament title, and making it back into the district team tournament. We would also like to make an impact in the singles and doubles district draws this season. We have a very large junior class, so another long-term goal is to really develop the freshman and sophomore class as we are going to need them once this junior class graduates in 2025.

“Losing Hugh for the season was a big blow for us as he provided a much-needed spark in our doubles last year, grabbing us much needed wins against Fairview, Hickory, and Greenville,” said Pellegrino. “Although he can’t play out his senior season, he still attends practice, helps out where he can, and helps motivate his teammates from the sideline… We are really excited about this young freshmen/sophomore class as we have a freshman and sophomore already starting in Lucas Thrift and Tobiah Reinard, and have seen some great progress in Josh Westover, Owen Baldensberger, and Bill Bennett, who have all bumped up spots in the lineup since week one. We also have some great athletes on our team this year in Grady Corey, Finn Ordiway and Jack Napolitan, who have been making an impact early.”

Teams in Region 1 also include Hickory, Titusville, Greenville, Sharon, Kennedy Catholic, Oil City, and Grove City.

“Region play begins this week with our first region match-up being against Oil City away this Wednesday,” said Pellegrino.

“Since District 10 moved to the two region format in 2021, Warren has won the Region 1 title for the last three seasons,” he said. “Our goal this year is to make that four seasons in a row, but different than most seasons, we are not going into the year as heavy favorites to win the region. Greenville and Hickory both have almost all of their starters back and have been working year round. They each have talented teams and are strong from first singles through second doubles and will present a challenge for us this year as we lost four of our top players from previous seasons. I would say on paper Greenville is the favorite and then Hickory and Warren are next in line. This has proven to be a nice little motivator, though, as our boys have a bit of a chip on their shoulder and are excited to cause some upsets this spring to try and bring home that region title at the end of the season. As for the district, we do play some matches against Region 2 opponents such as Harbor Creek, Mercyhurst, and McDowell during the regular season, and if we make it to the District 10 team tournament, we will see Fairview and Cathedral Prep.

“This year is probably the most competitive within the region since Travis (Myler) and I started coaching the program in 2019,” he said. “In years past, we have been so deep that we had the opportunity to switch up our line-ups and get some younger players in varsity from time to time. We still plan on doing that this year when we can but I only see that happening in a few matches with how strong our region opponents are this Spring.”