Martin Ramirez dominated the court at the Illinois High School Association Class 1A Sectional meet, earning himself a spot in this weekend's State Finals.
Martin, Coal City’s #1 singles player entered the sectional meet as the third seed. In the first round he defeated Joliet Catholic Academy’s Cormac Wagner by a score of 6-3,6-1. In the second round Martin defeated the number five seed, Parker Hsu, of Lemont to secure his spot on the state final roster.
The 2025 State Finals, hosted by Palatine High School, get underway Thursday, May 29.
This year’s sectional meet was held May 23 at JCA and Coal City’s #2 singles player Tanner Shain got off to a good start with a first round match victory—6-1,6-1—over Hillcrest’s David Contraras. In the second round match he ran into the number one seed and lost 6-0,6-0.
Coal City #1 doubles team of Devon McVey and Sam Sterba, the five seed in the tournament, won their first round match against Providence Catholic's Drew Barnes and Michael Giacomo 6-0, 6-0. In their second round match Devon and Sam fell to the #4 seed Lemont's Marco Pavilica and Mitch Sowa 6-1, 6-3.
The Coalers #2 doubles team of Dominick Chellino and Aidan Meister won their first round match against Midlothian's Shane Larmon and Fabian Casimiro by a score of 6-0, 6-0. In the second round Chellino and Meister were matched against the number one seed—Lemont's Aditya Oberai and Vikram Oberai and fell by a final score of 6-1, 6-3.