Trio of captains bring skills to WVHS tennis

In their own unique manner a trio of captains: Owen Durgin (senior), Evan Grundfast (senior) and Denis McAteer (freshman) are having a positive impact for the Warwick Valley High School boys tennis program this spring.

“Denis is our vocal leader,’’ Warwick Valley head coach John Garcia said. “He is in his third year starting on varsity and his second season starting as our first singles player. Younger and older players look up to him.

Evan is a journeyman for us. This is his fifth year starting on varsity and it would have been six if Covid did not shut down the one season. He has played many different positions for us over the years. He is the older guy to a younger group that the others look up to. He really cares about the younger guys and helping them get better, because he remembers when he was the little guy that the older kids were taking care of.

“Owen is a three year varsity starter for us. He is our doubles leader and he brings positive energy to practice and matches. Every teammate loves Owen and he makes them feel comfortable to be a part of a diverse age-group.’’

All three leaders have earned impressive victories on the court this year.

“Denis at the moment holds a 8-2 record at first singles,’’ Garcia said. “Evan at the moment holds a 6-4 record at second singles. Owen and his doubles partner Tello Villarrubia at the moment hold a 6-4 record at first doubles.’’

Coach Garcia has certainly witnessed each captain improve as tennis players throughout their careers for the Wildcats.

“Denis since he joined us as a seventh grader has seen great success through his dedication and maturity,’’ Garcia said. “Denis is consistently playing tennis throughout the year and playing in tournaments all off season to stay sharp and improve his abilities. When he was in seventh grade, he struggled to maintain a high form and his emotions for a full match, but since has matured and learned to use his emotions in a positive way. Evan, since he joined us as a seventh grader has improved and become a much stronger player. Evan is the smartest student-athlete that I have had the privilege of coaching over the years and his tennis knowledge is impressive. Over the last five years, Evan has put in a great amount of time and effort into making himself stronger and more durable to withstand the physical demand of a full tennis season.

“Owen, since he joined us in seventh grade has improved in various ways. For starters, he is much more mature. He was an energetic seventh grader that was all over the court, but has now done a 180 and became one of the two seniors on the team and now he is helping keep the younger guys in our program in line. Owen matured to see the big picture in our program’s success as well.’’

What is really impressive is the success enjoyed by the captains, and the team in general, in the classroom.

“My tennis team in general is a highly successful academic team,’’ Garcia said. “The last four years we have been the boy’s team within Warwick with the highest overall team average. Denis in the third marking period this year (the quarter that we use for our in-season scholar-athlete awards) held a 98.6 average. Evan is the valedictorian of our 2025 Senior Class. He earned a National Merit Scholarship, ranking in the top 1% of US High School Seniors. He won the Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award and Scholarship for superior intellectual promise in the field of science [among many other academic honors].

“Owen is another impressive academic student. His overall academic average is a 98.82. The score that we will use is his most recent quarter for scholar-athlete awards where he had a 100.8. Over his high school years Owen has taken Algebra 1 Honors, Earth Science Honors, Geometry Honors, Living Environment Honors, Algebra 2 Honors, Chemistry Honors, French 3 Honors, English 11 Honors, French University 1 Honors, OCCC Algebra, OCCC Trigonometry, Physics Honors, AP Calculus, AP Computer Science, AP English Literature and AP Government and Politics.’’

The Wildcats are scheduled to host Minisink Valley on Tuesday, May 13.

“These three captains are providing our team with success now and helping lead us to success in the future,’’ Garcia said. “Evan and Owen have been great players for our program that have held many different positions over their athletic careers.

“They have been great role models for our younger guys to look up to. Denis has taken on a leadership role at an early age which is going to help us moving forward in a program that currently has 18 athletes that are in 10th grade or younger.’’