The Howard County tennis regular season still has a few matches to play before wrapping up the league championships, but the county tournament is scheduled to begin on time this week at the Wilde Lake Tennis Center.
The tournament began on May 5, with the finals scheduled for May 9. Check back for updates throughout the tournament and coverage of Saturday's finals.
The Centennial boys, led by freshman Ram Kotnana, have clinched the regular season title by taking a 15-0 record into the tournament. But the Eagles still have a match with Hammond to make up after the county tournament and before the regional tournament, which begins on May 14.
On the girls side, Marriotts Ridge is poised to defend its regular season county title, bringing a 14-1 record into the county tournament. The Mustangs can clinch the title with a win over Howard on May 11. The Mt. Hebron and Centennial girls sit right behind Marriotts Ridge in the standings with two losses each.
Atholton, the defending County Cup tournament champion, is in good position to defend the crown, with 2014 county champion Matt Sklar and 2013 state finalist Victoria Kogan earning top seeds.
River Hill boasts the only returning state champion entry, as Prateek Swamykumar and Nick Zhu have teamed up again at boys doubles to defend their county, region and state titles.
Here are the top four seeds in each bracket:
Boys singles
1. Matt Sklar, Atholton; 2. Ram Kotnana, Centennial; 3. Jonathan Gorel, Hammond; 4. Cade Buch, Marriotts Ridge.
Girls singles
1. Victoria Kogan, Atholton; 2. Abby Thornton, Marriotts Ridge; 3. Snigdha Puram, Long Reach; 4. Alyssa Boryachinsky, Howard.
Boys doubles
1. Prateek Swamykumar and Nick Zhu, River Hill; 2. Collin McEwen and Matthew Stevens, Atholton; 3. Christian Tringali and Connor Bivens, Marriotts Ridge; 4. Corey Wiggs and Anoosh Reddy, Mt. Hebron.
Girls doubles
1. Tess Weber and Serene Mathew, Mt. Hebron; 2. Lexi Hackerman and Gaby Schito, Centennial; 3. Ana Hall and Emma Sedlack, Glenelg; 4. Elizabeth Sangvic and Erica Lee, Atholton.
Mixed doubles
1. Andrew Tsai and Jazmin Walle, Centennial; 2. Will Chanmugam and Stephanie Carroll, Mt. Hebron; 3. Andrew Tseng and Lina Choi, Centennial; 4. Reece Maiden and Emma Buch, Glenelg.