Alex Slezak had occasionally watched the Foxes’ boys’ tennis team play in the past, but when he assumed the head coaching job this season, he was able to assess the players close up. He was impressed with what he saw.
Overall, the team had a significant amount of rich talent and they were a group that was willing to work hard. Already very successful as the high school girls’ tennis team head coach for the past seven years, Coach Slezak had a hunch the boys’ team could win the section title and maybe even the WPIAL crown. As it turned out, he was right in more ways than one.
The team won the section crown for the first time in seven years after scoring a perfect 6-0 record in WPIAL Class AAA Section 3, and then finished the regular season with an unblemished overall record of 13-0. The team had not gone undefeated in more than 10 years.
“We never set out to do anything other than compete to the best of our abilities each and every match,” says Coach Slezak. “We live by the saying ‘inch-by-inch is a cinch,’ and look for little improvements every day knowing that eventually they will add up to big improvements.”
Among the season’s highlights were freshman Jay Kashyap’s undefeated record in doubles play and when teammates Sidd Rajupet, a senior, and freshman Robby Shumansky both qualified for the PIAA boys’ tennis singles championship, which will be held May 27 and May 28 in Hershey, PA.
Additional high points for 2016 included impressive showings from Sidd and sophomore Kurran Singh, who won all but one match the entire regular season.
The remainder of the varsity squad – seniors Lucas Fennell and Thomas Fennell, juniors Neil Bencherif and Jared Cohen, sophomore Karsten Lagerquist and freshman Jared Nord – also demonstrated plenty of character and skill and were instrumental in getting wins in some of team’s toughest matches.
Still, even with some pretty spectacular talent, the season didn’t go without its challenges and some adversity.
“The players were feeling pressure in our match against Shady Side Academy, our big rival,” admits the coach. “They always have good players, they are coached very well, and they had a history of beating us. It was not our best competitive performance, but we came through.”