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2026 Times Boys Tennis Players of the Year: Ottawa’s Kaden Araujo and Ayden Sexton · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty six Times Boys Tennis Players of the Year
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  Ottawa's Caiden Araujo and Aiden Sexton. Written by Brian Hoxi.
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  This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  to you by Everlett. In their first year as doubles partners,
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  it didn't take long for Ottawa seniors Caden Araujo and
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  Aiden Sexton to find that their talents complimented each other
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  very well. This past season, the Pirates duo used that
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  advantage to end the campaign with twenty five victories while
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  finishing runner up at the Interstate eight Conference tournament, placing
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  third at the Class one A LaSalle Peru Sectional, and
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  then going one to two at the ISA State Finals tournament.
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  For their accomplishments, Araujo and Sexton have been voted the
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  twenty twenty six Times Boys Tennis Players of the Year.
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  Playing doubles tennis is really about trying to set up
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  your partner for winning shots and make it easy on
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  each other. Araujo said, I think while we both enjoy
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  hitting that winning shot, we both also enjoy putting each
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  other in a situation to do that as well. I
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  feel like both of us would have been able to
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  do pretty well if we'd played singles, but I also
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  think we were better players in doubles. Sexton said, we
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  both have our strengths and weaknesses, but I think what
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  one of us wasn't good at the other one was.
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  I think that's why we work together well. For both
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  Araujo and Sexton, the game of tennis wasn't one they
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  played often until high school, but both found it a
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  perfect fit in baseball. My eighth grade year, I broke
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  my wrist in the very first game. So after that
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  my freshman year, I decided I wanted to do something
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  new and I picked up tennis. Araujo said it was
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  a great decision. I think the number one thing that
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  has kept me playing tennis is the coaches we have
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  and how fun they make everything. Varsity coach Matt Gross
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  and coach Tracey O'Fallon have been so great all four years.
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  For me, putting my teammate in a position to get
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  an overhead smash for a winner or getting one myself
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  is my favorite part inside the game. I would say
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  this year it was having those matches where Aiden and
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  I were really clicking as a team was great as well.
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  The summer before freshman year, I decided to sign up
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  for City Wreck Tennis just to try it. Sexton said,
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  I really liked it, but I didn't have plans on
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  going out for the team in the spring. One of
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  my friends kind of convinced me I should do it.
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  I've stuck with tennis because there really isn't anything about
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  the game I don't like. I think, like most of us,
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  I wasn't really that great when I first started, but
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  the challenge of trying to get better really pushed me
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  to stay with it. At sectionals, Araujo and Sexton opened
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  with a pair of wins, the second punching their tickets
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  to State. They then fell to the Metamora team of
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  Dane Hutchison and Hunter Pole six three six', three before
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  bouncing back with a come behind four sixty six four
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  six' three Triumph Over Pontiacs zach Legner And. Cole don's
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  the most exciting match this season for me was when
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  we won the quarterfinal sectional match six three to six
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  to one Victory Over Pontiac's Owen Mashing ben melkers that
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  qualified Us. For state, arayo said going to the state
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  tournament was our goal from the start of, the season
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  so winning that match to reach that goal was. Really
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  neat it was great to see what we'd been working
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  for all year was going. To happen Araujo and sexton
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  scored a six four to six to three Win Over
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  Jacksonville's colin Nohlhoff And tristan northrup in the opening round of,
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  consolation play following a six to three six' four loss
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  in the opening round and a six two to six
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  four defeat in the second round. Of consolation play while
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  clinching a state spot at sectionals and getting a chance
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  to compete at the state level was in his top memories.
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  From the season it was another aspect of the state
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  experience that made The top. Of sexton's list, to be
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  honest while playing at state and all the stuff around.
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  That was cool the hotel we stayed at was, My
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  best memory sexton said with a smile As he and arajo.
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  Shared a laugh, it was. Really really nice i'd never
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  stayed in a, place LIKE that and i wasn't. REALLY expecting,
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  it i mean they made whatever you wanted for breakfast
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  right in. Front of you. It was Amazing araujo and
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  sexton will BOTH be attending ivcc starting. In the fall
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  arajo will be working toward a degree in accounting or
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  finance before a transfer to a, four Year university while
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  sexton will begin pursuing a degree to become a high.
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  School science teacher sexton plans to continue playing Tennis, for
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  The eagles while araujo said he's retired and ending his
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  competitive career on. A high note