Wooster boys tennis enjoys milestone season

Sixth-year Wooster boys tennis coach Justin Crooks was literally packing away the 2026 season June 1, but he was still having a hard time processing it was over.

Who can blame him? Wooster had its best performance from a team and an individual in about two decades. Any coach would have been sad to see a season like that come to an end.

“I collected jerseys and warmups from the kids,” Crooks said. “I had to clean out the team shed. I was talking to the athletic secretary, but it’s still kind of weird to think that the season is over. Other than winning a state title, there’s not much more that we could have done. It was a great season.”

Senior Henry Pozefsky led the way as he became a second-team All-Ohioan, was 1-1 at the state tournament, repeated as Ohio Cardinal Conference Player of the Year and finished with a 30-9 record.

“Henry is a baseliner,” Crooks said, meaning the Generals’ ace primarily plays from the back of the court near the baseline and relies on long, consistent rallies to wear down opponents. “He hits a forehand with heavy topspin. He just kind of moves the kids around, but he'll come to the net to put away points on anything short. He had a great season.”

Pozefsky led Wooster to the OCC title 64-60 over Lexington, snapping a five-year streak of finishing as the runner-up. It was Wooster’s first conference title since 2007.

The Generals went 15-5 overall and reached the regional semifinals in the Division I Ohio Tennis Coaches Association team tournament, which was the farthest the program has ever advanced.

Once the individual tournament began, Wooster had three district qualifiers. Pozefsky then became the Generals’ first state qualifier since 2008.

“We basically broke the curse, or whatever we had, for all these big milestones, which was really great,” Crooks said. “We set goals at the beginning of the year, and we wanted to win the conference because we had kept ending up losing to Lexington.”

With all but one starter returning, the Generals had arguably the school’s deepest team ever. There were 24 kids in the program, with 17 playing JV, and Crooks often juggled the lineup.

Senior Saxon Ranney had a combined 27-9 record, playing singles and doubles. He teamed up with junior Nick Kakanuru to win the OCC first doubles title and then advanced to districts in singles.

Sophomore Andrew James won the OCC second singles title in dramatic fashion and also qualified for districts, where he bowed out with a 28-9 record.

James won the most pivotal OCC match, coming back from deficits of 5-1 in the first set and 5-4 in the second for a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Lexington’s Jack Palmer.

“We were playing outside at The College of Wooster, but it started raining, and we had to move inside at the Aspen Racquet Club,” Crooks said. “Once we moved indoors, that’s when Andrew started to make his big comeback in the first set.”

Wooster added seconds at the league meet from junior Tony Rammel at third singles and the second doubles team of freshman Jake Hung and senior Nathan Spruell.

“Saxon ended up going to districts as a three seed from the sectional, which is crazy,” Crooks said. “He’s played tennis for a long time with his older twin brothers Brock and Garrett and his dad Chris. He ended up with an 86-29 career record. Henry was 87-40.

“Andrew also had a great season and was huge for us at the OCC. It wasn’t just Henry and a bunch of kids. It was like Henry and several other really good tennis players, and that's why we were so successful as a team.”

Pozefsky put the exclamation point on the season and his career when he was the last General playing at the Div. I state tennis tournament in Mason May 28-29. Pozefsky defeated Mason sophomore Janek Tepley 7-5, 7-6 to open the tourney.

“It was a three-hour match in near 80-degree weather,” Crooks said. “That was the first state win by a Wooster boy since 2004 and gave Henry a top eight spot. He then lost in the second round against Revere’s Finn Keenan, 6-2, 6-2, who wound up third.”