Fox Chapel boys tennis faces challenging road to 5th straight WPIAL title

By: Marty Stewart
Friday, March 20, 2020 | 9:27 PM

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Last season was one to remember for the Fox Chapel tennis team. The Foxes won their fourth consecutive WPIAL team championship and made it to the semifinals of the PIAA tournament while finishing 18-1.

Coach Alex Slezak will have his work cut out for him if the Foxes are to win a fifth straight WPIAL crown. They suffered some key losses to graduation starting with Robby Shymansky, who is playing at Yale. Shymansky won two WPIAL singles championships and last season won the PIAA singles championship.

Jared Nord, Jay Kasyap, Brandon Wei and Shan Hassan also graduated. Milo Baron, the lone returning letterwinner, will take over at No. 1 singles. Other returning players are Avik Agrawal and Isaac Mah.

Slezak is looking forward to the challenge.

“This is my 14th year of coaching tennis, the last four with the boys,” he said. “I am always evolving and improving, so time will tell the story on this team.”

He believes the recent successes of the team will be a positive.

“The strengths of this team will be the work ethic and building on the successful culture we have created over the last four years. Our lack of experience will be a concern, but it will also be a strength as the season will be new to so many of the underclassmen.”

Once again, Slezak feels Shady Side Academy will be the toughest competition the Foxes will face.

“They were the WPIAL runner-up last season, and they are returning most of their lineup.”

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