Redlands High wins CBL tennis title

Laith Bannout of Redlands High won the Citrus Belt League singles title Tuesday while Alex Benegas and Braxton Foley of Redlands East Valley took the doubles title at the CBL boys’ tennis championship tournament.

Redlands High captured the CBL team title, finishing the dual match season with a 9-0-1 record in league play (10-7-1 overall). REV finished second at 7-2-1 (10-7-1 overall). Citrus Valley was third at 5-3-2 (6-4-3 overall). Yucaipa was fourth at 3-4-3 followed by Cajon (2-7-1) and Beaumont (0-10).

The CIF Southern Section will announce the brackets for the 2026 team playoffs on Saturday (May 2) with first round matches set for Wednesday, May 6. The section finals are scheduled for May 15.

Bannout, the CBL doubles champion in 2025 with graduated partner Prubgeet Singh (Duke University), breezed through his early matches, yielding just game points in four matches.

Facing Citrus Valley senior Hayden Hinkleman, the runner-up in the 2025 singles tournament, Bannout lost the first set 6-3 but prevailed in the final two sets 6-0 and 6-2 to win the title and earn All-CBL first team.

Hinkleman reached the title match with a 6-1, 6-4 win in the semifinals over Cajon High’s Trejo-Ibarra.

In the doubles competition at the Verdieck Tennis Center at University of Redlands, Benegas and Foley of REV won the league title with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over the Redlands High duo of Advaith Kidambi and Aidan Aldosoro. Benegas was the CBL singles champion in 2025.

Benegas and Foley reached the title match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Yucaipa High pairing of Luke Martinez and Foy.

Kidambi and Aldosoro worked hard for their three-set semifinal victory, prevailing over Jaden Jacob and his partner Ayush Giri of Citrus Valley 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Jacob and Giri finished third with a win over Yucaipa’s Martinez and Foy 6-3, 6-2.