The Catalina Foothills boy's tennis team has won 10 state team titles dating back to 1997. It's an incredible run that includes a trip to the final every year since 2005 except for 2012 and 2013. Even then, the Falcons picked things back up and won the last two Division II team championships.

Also incredible is the fact that the program won the title in 2014 under Dave King and a championship in 2015 under Bill Wright. This year, the Falcons are being led by another head coach, Jeff Bloomberg.

Does it really matter?

The successful coaching carousel at Catalina Foothills mirrors the reloading project that is taking place on the courts. Gone are two-time state champion Nate Rasmussen and state champions Dalton Reisig and Quinn Gardner but senior standout Mike Lee returns along with a complete crew of team champions and a few newcomers including his freshman brother Mason.

Mason took the No. 2 singles spot behind his older brother on Tuesday when the Falcons hosted Ironwood Ridge. Mason is the latest offering from the Lee family, a family that has a rich history of tennis trophies.

Older brother Jackson Lee won a doubles title with Sabino in 2011, aunt Debbie Lee won back-to-back doubles titles in 1973 and 1974 with Sahuaro, father Mike Lee won a singles title in 1980 at Sabino and senior Mike Lee won a singles title in 2013 with Catalina Foothills.

Jackson Lee is now a standout player at NAU while Mike committed to play for the Univerity of Arizona like his father did.

"They took a natural liking to the sport," their father said. "They have had some success and the great thing about Mason is that he is a lefty just like me. There are a lot of advantages to being left handed and I felt it helped me coach him a little longer."

Mike Lee played at Arizona before testing the pro circuit. He is understandably proud that one of his sons will also be a Wildcat.

"It was a mutual deal," he added. "Arizona and Mikey kept in touch the last couple of years and they saw him at Winter Nationals and we finally pulled the trigger."

As stated earlier, Mike won the singles title as a freshman and took second place last year. He is expected to battle it out this year with Salpointe standout Yash Parikh.

"I'm excited about Arizona," Mike Lee said. "I'm also excited for my team. I think we are going to win it all again and it feels good to be able to follow pops at Arizona."

The Falcons beat Ironwood Ridge 9-0 in a "freedom" match to start the year off with a "sectional" match scheduled for March 8.

Ironwood Ridge won two team titles in 2008 and 2009 and the Falcons have been competitive ever since especially in the singles and doubles brackets where Ryan Knox and Brody Harn took second last year.

Well, Knox and Harn have graduated and head coach Mike Pastor returns with just to members from last year's rotation, Jared Pastor and Grayson Smith. Still, Pastor feels a sense of excitement in being able to watch his younger team mature.

"Eight of our ten players are underclassmen and it will be exciting to see what they can accomplish this year," Pastor explained.

"They will grow and we will watch how they come out of this match," he added. "They will find out a lot about themselves and what we need to do."

 

SINGLES

Mike Lee (CF) over Jared Pastor, 6-1, 6-1

Mason Lee (CF) over Carlos Bernabe, 6-0, 6-0

Kilani Milani (CF) over Akshat Srivastava, 6-0, 6-0

Connor Oserean (CF) over Grayson Smith, 6-0, 6-0

Daniel Wieland (CF) over Ben Behrends, 6-0, 6-0

Frederick Dufenberg (CF) over Nick Chenault, 6-1, 6-0

 

DOUBLES

Lee/Lee over Pastor/Bernabe (8-1)

Milani/Oserean over Behrends/Smith (8-1)

Dufenberg/Wieland over Chenault/Baylor Warrick (8-1)