Tolland Boys Tennis breezes by Fermi

In a rebuilding season that has been mired with ups and downs, the Tolland boys’ tennis team was glad to finish the campaign with an emphatic up. 

Coming off a 7-0 shutout loss to E.O. Smith on Wednesday, the Eagles rebounded nicely with a 7-0 clean sweep of Enrico Fermi High School on Thursday afternoon. 

The victory came without much fight from their opponents, who haven't registered a win all season. Meanwhile, Tolland finished up with a 6-11 record, but head coach David Chassanoff has high hopes going into next year.

"People get a lot better between junior and senior year, and we are returning six juniors," Chassanoff said. "Next year should be really exciting. I definitely think we can go .500 or better."

As for Thursday's match, things started off with a bang as Tolland's No. 1 ranked doubles team of Eric Venezia and Dylan Roman easily took away a 6-0, 6-0 victory. While the Eagles as a team will not go to the state tournament, Chassanoff says that Roman and Venezia will head there to represent the school as individuals. The tandem was previously undefeated before a tight loss to E.O. Smith's No. 1 team the day before. 

"I think the loss was good because it will keep them humble," said Chassanoff. "It was better than a first loss coming next week."

The Eagles' only starting senior said goodbye to the program in a satisfying manner. Jesse Aldin, who Chassanoff described as a grinder, made easy work of fellow No. 3 Jacob Wright 6-1, 6-1.

Elsewhere on the day, Tolland's No. 1 singles player Matt Beidleman closed out Fermi's Akshay Gangakedkar 6-3, 6-0. No. 2 singles player Mathieu Beckius bested Mikol Nguyen 6-2, 6-1. No. 4 ranked David Arute rounded out the singles dominance with a win over Mike Pellegrino 6-0, 6-2.

Over on the doubles side, the other two Tolland pairings were equally as sparkling as Venezia and Roman. The doubles teams for the Eagles dropped just two games all afternoon. The no. 2 team of sophomores Guneet Josen and Dan Gadoury won 6-1, 6-1. No. 3 ranked juniors Dan Barkus and Ryan Jenkins closed out the day with solid serving in a 6-0, 6-0 victory.