The Saint Louis U. High varsity racquetball team will open its season against Lindbergh on Friday. After many challenge matches and weeks of ladder play, the teams were finally confirmed and emails were sent to players on Monday. 

With loss of six Varsity-1 seniors last year, five juniors and one senior have been added to the team. Returning seniors Danny Jurguens (No. 1) and Oliver Allen (No. 2) were announced as the top seeds after many back and forth challenge matches for the No. 1 spot. Juniors Max Telken (No. 3), Jared Thornberry (No. 4), Danny Philips (No. 5), and Will Shorey and Ben Harmon (doubles team) were among the underclassmen added to the varsity team, and Nick Peterson (seed No. 6) was the only newly-added senior.

“This year in particular our varsity fell into place rather nicely,” said head coach Stephen Deves. “Our JV-1 and JV-2 spots were a little more challenging because there were some of the JV-2 guys that could compete with the JV-1 guys and we like to offer these challenge matches to allow players to face off against each other.”

Not only was the Varsity-1 team announced to all of the players this past Monday, but the Varsity-2, JV 1-1, JV 1-2, JV 2-1, and JV 2-2 teams were revealed. Seniors Sam Kleffner, Daniel Klarsch, Tad Banker, Brendan Carr, Owen Cooney, Anthony Solari, and Andrew Loeffelman all earned a spot on the Varsity-2 team. 

For most of the JV teams, the juniors occupy most of the spots with a few freshman and sophomores. Freshmen Nick Ferrari, Jack Mackey, and Andrew Peterson were among the underclassmen who earned a spot on a JV team.

“The awesome thing about our team is that we have so many people who want to play racquetball,” said Deves. “There are many qualified players and makes our decisions difficult and I think since racquetball is an individual sport, it offers guys the opportunity to allow the players to earn the spot they are looking for.”