Rams Boys Tennis Passes Darien En Route to Final

The 90-degree heat seemed to energize the No. 3 seeded Rams boys tennis team as they easily swept aside the seventh seeded Blue Wave, 4-0, at home Wednesday in the FCIAC semifinals. New Canaan will battle top seeded Staples for the FCIAC crown today.

In four dominant matches that sealed the victory, the Rams gave up no sets and lost a total of just eight games.

Rams senior Ben Lee, who was beat Lonnie Rawden 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles remarked, "the heat was definitely a factor; we haven't played in sweltering heat like this since 2009.  It was a little hard to adjust, but I am basically content with way I played overall."

Chase Urban, manning the second singles slot, dominated Darien's Britt Gordon, 6-0, 6-1, and Rams freshman Will Burger had no trouble handling Cal Kevorkian 6-0, 6-1 in the number four slot.

For New Canaan seniors on the team, Wednesday marked the last home match.  Reflecting on the milestone, Kevin Budrawich, who went 6-1, 6-3, said "our team's basically like a family, it's been great." He added, "And this is by far the strongest year we've had."

Wednesday's victory was so complete, that most of the chatter following the game centered on Staples, not Darien.

"[It's] a huge match," said Lee. "I definitely want revenge for the match I played against Staples earlier in the season."

New Canaan coach Dan Borgman recalled that when they played Staples earlier in the season, "that was a closer match than the 5-2 score indicated. We had four three setters; we lost two, and we won two. I think we can win those two that we lost."

But Borgman cautioned, "I know Staples is extremely strong, but we're determined and I think we have a good chance."

Lee's answer to defeating Staples: "Go in, play hard, play smart."