Last year, the boys tennis team took home the Central Connecticut Conference title. This year, the junior captains Vishanth Palanivel and Neel Mirani along with head coach Jeff Dauphinais and assistant coach Patrick Mulcahy are pushing the team to do everything possible in order to reclaim their position as best in the conference.

The team works to get onto the courts as much as possible and is practicing everyday that they do not have matches. On match days, the captains hype the players up to get them confident to play. After the match, the coach uses the stats to decide what to work on the next day at practice, which they will work on until they see significant improvement according to Palanivel.

“The season so far has gone pretty well with 7 wins and 1 loss as of May 7. With a couple injuries leading to our experimenting with the lineup, our team has adapted amazingly and been able to stay consistent to beat some top level teams. We hope to play undefeated for the rest of the season,” Mirani said.

As the number three ranked team in class L as of May 7, according to ciacsports.com, the team has to finish strong in order to maintain their ranking. The goal for the rest of the season is to simply continue playing strong and winning their matches, and hopefully that will lead them to another conference championship according to Mirani.

“We are now past the halfway point of our season, and our record is 8-1, with a tough loss against Hall because of a lack of players, and we are third in the state for Class L. We are working hard to keep that our only loss. We have three tough matches coming up against Avon, Simsbury, and Glastonbury. If we win all three, we win the CCC Patriot division,” senior singles player Kameron Modaressi said.

The team will be graduating four seniors this year but have a strong junior class with years of varsity experience already underneath their belt. According to Mulcahy, the team will need to work more on volleys and serves in order to continue their success.

“If we become more consistent in [serving and volleying], stay tough in tiebreakers, and maintain our composure on the court, we will give ourselves a good chance at the title. Reclaiming the title will require us to tackle some very challenging opponents, so the team will need to stay sharp,” Mulcahy said.

Head coach Jeff Dauphinais won his one-hundred and fiftieth career match as a coach with a win over Northwest Catholic with a score of 7-0. The team hopes to continue winning matches and to retain the CCC title, with an even bigger hope of a run at the state championship.