How Dunlap played its way into contention at the IHSA boys tennis state finals

PEORIA — The Dunlap boys tennis team put itself in position to win a state trophy and earn a place in IHSA history Friday.

The Eagles doubles tandem of senior Shaan Kashyap and junior Ethan McRaven rolled to the Class 1A state championship match. They will face junior Krish Khanna and freshman Arjun Sawhney of Chicago University for the state title on Saturday at Palatine High School.

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Dunlap heads into Saturday in second place in the Class 1A state team race, with more than double the points over the field below them. That sets the stage for a landmark day Saturday:

• The last Peoria-area doubles team to win a state title was the Richwoods pairing of Scott Batterson and Matt Maris in 1987-88. And Ethan McRaven's father, Steve, teamed with Maris to finish fourth in state doubles for Richwoods in 1985-86.

Steve McRaven is now an assistant coach at Dunlap and will be coaching his son in the state doubles title match Saturday.

• Dunlap's doubles tandem of Steve Chacko and David Wu finished runner-up in the state in Class 1A in 2016-17. Metamora's Brian Lelm and Harry Hawbaker were runner-up in Class 1A in 2020-21.

• Dunlap won the Class 1A state team title in 2016-17, the only time in IHSA history a Peoria-area team won the state boys tennis title.

• If Dunlap finishes in the top two Saturday, it will become just the fifth Peoria-area team in IHSA history to earn a first- or second-place trophy in boys state tennis. And only the second team from Peoria in the last 73 years to finish in the top two at state (Dunlap, state champions, 2016-17).

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State servings

Morton singles ace Carter Kendall is in the state consolation quarterfinals against Oliver Cahnman (Chicago Parker). ... Metamora doubles tandem Hudson Shaw (Sr.) and Tommy Sopko (So.) were eliminated Friday in the fifth round of the consolation bracket. ... Chicago University leads the Class 1A race with 32 points heading into Saturday's finales. Dunlap is next at 26. Morton is ninth and Metamora 22nd.

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How Dunlap played its way into contention at the IHSA boys tennis state finals