ROCHELLE — Eight Rochelle Hub tennis players took home medals during the 2025 Hubs Dubs Tournament on Saturday, when the varsity team battled six other schools including DeKalb, Rockford Lutheran, Rockford East, Harlem, Belvidere and Streator for top honors.

Juniors Mark Green and Philip Winters led the charge for the Hubs, who scored 20 points and finished second in the team standings, landing one point behind tournament champion DeKalb. Green and Winters swept all four of their matches to take first at No. 1 doubles, opening the tournament with a 9-7 win over Rockford Lutheran’s Visvai Subramanian and Landon Horn. 

“I think it’s something that we can build on for the rest of the season,” Green said. “It feels good to get a win early in the season. [Philip] and I work together really well. I’m better up at the net and he’s better deep, so we complement each other well… We’ve started the season pretty well. We play well together, especially in doubles, and a lot of our players work well together.”

The Hub duo remained unbeaten in the No. 1 doubles division with an 8-3 win over Harlem’s Sean Austin and Matt McElyea during the second round and an 8-6 win over DeKalb’s Rylan Lottes and Matthew Williams during the third round. Green and Winters clinched their doubles crown after taking down Streator’s Ryan Beck and Brad Minick 8-5 in the fifth and final round.

Junior Caleb Mortensen and sophomore Sam Sergeant united for a second-place finish at No. 2 doubles for the Hubs (1-2, 0-1 Interstate 8). The duo won two of its four matches, beginning the tournament with an 8-4 win over Harlem’s Dom Coletta and Luka Butina before conceding a 6-8 loss against Belvidere’s Marc Vargas and Charles Leonard. Despite a 2-8 loss against DeKalb’s Kam Falk and Esteban Cardoso, Mortensen and Sergeant finished on a high note, scoring an 8-4 win over Rockford East’s Israel Lewers and Mario Rivera in the fifth and final round.

“I think it set a good perspective for how we can do in the conference,” Mortensen said. “A lot of our success came from the rallies and keeping the points going because we saw that some of the other teams weren’t as successful at that. I like how we’ve started the season out. I see some room for improvement and I think we can get better. We’re doing well with keeping the points going, but we could get better at our serves, which are a major part of what we need.”

Sophomore Noah McKinney and freshman David Eckardt teamed up for a second-place finish at No. 3 doubles, winning three of their four matches. Unfazed by an opening-round 1-8 loss against Rockford Lutheran’s Cale Patkus and Kevin Aulner, McKinney and Eckardt rallied off three consecutive victories beginning with an 8-5 win over Streator’s Devin Thompson and Tyler Barbee. The RTHS duo took down Harlem’s Chase Linley and Lalo Valdez 8-2 before bowing out of the tournament with an 8-4 win against DeKalb’s Jahan Islam and Marcos Zaylik.

“It was great to finish high,” McKinney said. “Bonding with my teammate was great and we didn’t start out well, but we were pretty locked in at the end. We were pushing to the net and with me being so big at the net, that was our game plan… We’ve improved a lot already and I’m pretty excited for how we can perform in conference play. Our doubles are great and we’re getting a lot of points from that. We don’t have many seniors, so we’ll have a lot of people back next year.”

Rounding out Rochelle’s top-2 finishers were sophomores Derek Swartz and Amor Lara, who took three of their four matches to place second at No. 4 doubles. The Hub combo started the tournament in dominant fashion, cruising over Rockford East’s Edgar Cambron and Marvin Galvan Sandoval 8-1 before beating Belvidere’s Aidan Bauman and Francesco Moscato 8-3. Although Swartz and Lara fell 0-8 against DeKalb’s Victor Sandoval and Charlie Vander Bleek, the Rochelle duo rebounded with an 8-6 win over Harlem’s Riley Carlson and Elias Muenzer.

“Finishing second overall and second in my division was a very big confidence builder,” Swartz said. “We knew our strengths and if we started losing or hitting bad shots, we knew we could regroup and focus on keeping the ball in play so we could gradually develop more power over the rest of the game. We’ve started the season pretty well and I’m excited to see where the rest of the season goes. We have a lot of young players and most of the people in the varsity spots aren’t seniors, so for at least one more year, we’ll have people who have played for a while.”

Sophomores Owen Carmichael and Bryson Stewart landed just outside of medalist positions, taking third at No. 5 doubles and winning two of their four matches. The Rochelle duo earned an 8-2 win over Streator’s Lucas Gutierrez and Jacob Wang as well as an 8-4 win over Harlem’s Connor Rundblade and Axel Johnson. Rochelle will be back in action on Tuesday evening, when the Hubs are scheduled to face Kaneland in an Interstate 8 match at 4:30 p.m.