The dominant Albuquerque Academy boys varsity tennis team captured its 20th straight state championship title last weekend, defeating Santa Fe Prep in the final, while not dropping any of the six matches they played. This 4A division boys victory follows metro and district tournament wins for the powerful, undefeated tennis team.

In addition, the girls varsity tennis squad also won the team state championship against Robertson—netting the girls their fourth straight title.

The two victories continue to demonstrate the power and depth of the Charger tennis program. As a team, the Academy boys and girls did remarkably as they both did not drop a single match throughout the entire state championships.

Academy varsity boys head coach Mike Cheves said he felt proud of his team and was thrilled to be a part of this milestone. He pointed out that getting the 20th straight title tells a lot about the talent and character of his varsity squad.

“It feels awesome. I’m so happy to be a part of this program and help out the school on this great journey.

Everybody just kept working hard and everybody on the team earned this one. I’m super proud of them. Everybody kept their heads down and got to work.”

Academy varsity girls head coach, Amy Badger, spoke about how it felt to win the state championships for the fourth straight year and what her strategy was going into the tournament.

“It feels great to be state champions. I’m so happy for the girls. I talked to them about consistency and hitting high-percentage shots because we knew Robertson were great competitors and we knew we had to minimize our mistakes to have a good result against them.”

On Wednesday, May 3rd and Thursday, May 4th, the Chargers also took part in the individual state championship tournament, which included both singles and doubles play. There were three singles players and two doubles teams who represented the Chargers.

Academy’s unseeded Oliver Lorenz ’25 won the singles championship in an all-Charger affair, upsetting #2 seed Connor Dils ’24 in the final 6-3, 6-2. With a series of fierce forehands, strong serves, and big backhands, Lorenz was always on the attack and placed balls out of Dils’s reach. Lorenz had an extraordinary tournament, beating Hope’s #1 seed, Luciano Silveria ‘23, #4 seed, Garg and #2 seed, Dils on his tough path.

Individually, the Chargers dominated the singles draw, coming in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Ketan Garg ’27, who was the #4 seed, placed 3rd, defeating Santa Fe Prep’s, Jonas Anderson-Joyner 6-3, 6-2.

“It’s a very big accomplishment in my fairly short tennis career to be the single’s state champion,” said Lorenz. “I was super excited to even get into the tournament and winning it just amazes me.”

Lorenz also noted what his strategies were against his higher seeded opponents.

“I lost to Luciano a few times before the season. When I played him, I decided to come out and give it my all and just try to stay positive the whole tournament in general. Even against my teammates, Connor and Ketan, my strategy was just keeping a good mindset even though there weren’t as many teammates there to cheer me on. Overall, just staying positive helped me get through the tournament.”

In doubles, #1 seeds Jack Hubbard ’23 and I made a strong run, winning our first three matches but came up short in the finals in second place to St. Michael’s strong doubles team of Kameron Dunmar ’23 and James Utton ’23 5-7, 2-6.

The Academy girls finished on top in both singles and doubles.

Charger Lily Bosch ’23 is the new state champion.

She was the #3 seed, making a marvelous run for the Chargers, defeating both the #2 seed, Kate McDonald ’23, and #1 seed Tatiana Dalton-Spilca ’23. After losing the opening set in her semifinal, Bosch stormed back and eventually beat McDonald in an exhausting three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Bosch battled out another three-setter in the final where she took down Dalton-Spilca in a thrilling match 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Bosch executed a lot of her shots and forced Dalton-Spilca to make many mistakes. When Bosch needed a point, she always got that one extra ball back and made her opponent hit an extra shot.
“I didn’t go in thinking I was going to win,” said Bosch. “I just wanted to be happy with how I played, so the basics and doing them well was my goal. I think what went well through the match was just trying to get that one more ball back, and I think it made a difference.”

The doubles finals were another Chargers showdown. #2 seed Michelle Deng ’25 and Emeline Doscher ’25 defeated their unseeded teammates Marissa Rogholt ’23 and Amelia Bosch ’26 6-1, 6-2 in the finals.

Both Charger teams say they look forward to another winning year in 2024.