The on-court ability is there but learning to be a leader has been a work-in-progress for Claremont High School senior Mateen Ghafarshad.
The 2025 IE Varsity Boys Tennis Player of the Year, Ghafarshad knew that this year was his to take on that responsibility.
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Claremont High School’s Mateen Ghafarshad,17, has been chosen as the IE Varisty Boys Tennis Player of the Year. At Claremont High School on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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Claremont High School’s Mateen Ghafarshad,17, has been chosen as the IE Varisty Boys Tennis Player of the Year. At Claremont High School on Monday, June 23, 2025. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
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“It fell on me to be the leader this year,” Ghafarshad said. “I just took everything from the last couple of years into this season and made it what I wanted it to be.”
The fourth consecutive Player of the Year from Claremont, Ghafarshad shared the award last year with Caleb Settles.
“I was with Caleb for the last 2-3 years,” Ghafarshad said. “He and coach (Kathy) Settles helped me a lot in that way with building that leadership mentality. Caleb and me, we were the leaders of the team last year.”
A CIF Southern Section doubles semifinalist alongside Settles last year, Ghafarshad was the only Inland player to reach the Round of 16 at the CIF-SS individual tournament this year.
“I’ve coached a lot of tennis over the last 20 years and the last player I saw play at his level was more than a decade ago,” said first-year Claremont coach Allison Smith, who took over for Kathy Settles.
“The leadership of Mateen is what helped move this team along,” she said. “He doesn’t lose his cool. He’s never flustered.
“That’s another thing that just shocked me. He’s so calm. Even in some games when he was behind he never lost focus. He never got mad, and that’s a rare thing for a 17-year-old boy.”
Best displayed in his year-long battle with Diamond Bar’s Russell Kuo, who was the Hacienda League singles champion last season. Ghafarshad dropped both matchups during the regular season before coming back to beat Kuo in the Palomares League final championship match.
“The guy I beat in the league final, he beat me twice during the regular season,” Ghafarshad said. “(Kuo) played really well all season and that carried into the league finals, but I stepped up my game a little bit.”
He had surrendered leads of 5-2 and 3-0 against Kuo during the regular season.
“Of the two he lost to Kuo, one was because of a broken string,” Smith said.
Ghafarshad credits the win in the league championship match to what he learned in the losses.
“I had lost to him two times before that so it made me feel good to beat him in the last one and the one that meant the most,” Ghafarshad said. “The first two times I had leads, so the thing I learned was to just not lose focus and to just close out games.”
He battled back to defeat Oaks Christian’s Dylan Lin, 2-6, 6-2, 10-2, in the CIF-SS Individuals before losing, 5-7, 3-6, to Mater Dei’s Matteo Duarte in this year’s Round of 16.
Ghafarshad was 44-4 as a junior and finished with a 55-4 overall record this year. He has committed to the University of Redlands.
“It looks like a good place where I can fit in quickly,” he said. “I’ve seen them practice and I’ve seen how they play. I love the school and I love the facilities.”
The No. 15-ranked Bulldogs have qualified for the NCAA Division III team postseason tournament each of the last two years.
“I saw them play against (No. 2-ranked) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps,” he said. “(CMS) is really good. They won the match but Redlands, they have a lot of work ethic. I like that.”
— DENNIS POPE
IE VARSITY COACH OF THE YEAR
Jay Bala, Diamond Bar
Diamond Bar joined the Palomares League this season, and Bala guided the team to a 15-2 record and an unbeaten league championship. The Brahmas outscored their league foes by a combined score of 148-32 and won 8 of 10 matches by at least nine points. Diamond Bar finished 11th in the CIF Southern Section’s regular-season rankings (best among Inland teams) and qualified for the Division 1 playoffs. The Brahmas beat fellow Baseline League member Claremont in the first round before falling to Arcadia in the quarters.
— ERIC-PAUL JOHNSON
IE VARSITY FIRST TEAM
Laith Bannout, Redlands, Jr.
Koji Cephas, Riverside Poly, So.
Luke Chaya, Santiago, Sr.
Alex Cho, Los Osos, Jr.
Mateen Ghafarshad, Claremont, Sr.
Asser Khattab, Santiago, Fr.
William Kong, Santiago, Sr.
Russell Kuo, Diamond Bar, So.
Logan Lao, Los Osos, So.
Ethan Lee, Los Osos, Sr.
Owen Pearson, Murrieta Valley, Sr.
Prubgeet Singh, Redlands, Sr.
IE VARSITY SECOND TEAM
Alexander Banegas, Redlands East Valley, Fr.
Kingston Bartsch, Murrieta Valley, So.
Keiran Bell, Murrieta Valley, Sr.
Jairo Casas, Arroyo Valley, Sr.
Jonathan Coyle, Murrieta Valley, Sr.
Matthew Gonzalez, Great Oak, Sr.
Ishaan Gupta, Centennial, Sr.
Asher Manning, Great Oak, Sr.
Tallen Nguyen, Etiwanda, Jr.
Rick Sun, Los Osos, Sr.
Micah Vo, Los Osos, Jr.
Jacques Wong Ah Sun, Riverside Poly, So.
— ERIC-PAUL JOHNSON
