![Windham seniors spearheaded an impressive comeback to reach the semifinals in New Hampshire Tennis | Sports Windham seniors spearheaded an impressive comeback to reach the semifinals in New Hampshire Tennis | Sports](https://i2.wp.com/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/eagletribune.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f0/df0707cf-79a9-53aa-aeae-962602b9a792/66567e84e7c98.image.jpg?crop=1627%2C854%2C0%2C209&resize=1200%2C630&order=crop%2Cresize&w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1)
WINDHAM, NH — It was far from the ending Windham tennis seniors had dreamed of.
With a chance to earn the program’s first state championship trip, a year after missing the postseason, on a perfect Tuesday afternoon, the Jaguars were ready to make some history.
But while the dream trip was cut short (with No. 2 Windham falling to No. 6 Winnacunnet 6-3 in the Division II semifinals), that wasn’t going to change one fact.
This group of Jaguar seniors led tremendous change and left a lasting impact on their program.
“I’m very proud of them,” Windham head coach Ross Suleski said. “To go 4-10 and miss the playoffs last year, and then take us to the state semifinals this year is really special. I wish I could take credit for what they did. This senior class took it upon themselves during the offseason to “They make this team better. They were so dedicated to growing on the court and leading on and off it that I am very proud of them. “It will be almost impossible to replace them.”
Five of the seven Jags who took the court in the semifinals were seniors: Tim Wang, Gilbert Feke, Shayan Biswas and Ben Carullo in singles and doubles and Russell Adler in singles. The only freshmen playing Tuesday were Dylan Wu in singles and doubles and sophomore Faryan Biswas in doubles.
So it was the seniors who really led the charge: Windham finished the regular season 12-2 and then beat Souhegan 5-4 in the Division II quarterfinals.
“This is my second year as captain and last year we had a difficult year,” Feke said. “But this year, all the players played their hearts out every day. I feel like this senior group is the most connected in all of tennis in New Hampshire. We were all friends and we all worked together. We all had that winning mentality.” . It was a pleasure to play tennis with them. The effort and effort were worth it. “They made it the best year of my high school career.”
Suleski said it all started with No. 1 singles player Wang and No. 2 singles player Feke, who also teamed up in top doubles.
“Tim and Gilbert have done a great job of leading by example,” the coach said. “It always trickles down from the top two spots, and the more they buy into those two, and the harder they try, everything else follows suit. They’ve been incredible captains the last two years. And seeing the seasons as a doubles team No. 1, 14-1 this year (they won 9-7 on Tuesday) and losing only to Lebanon (No. 1 seed), they had incredible seasons and that helps others.
“The seniors were playing the same positions as last year, and they came back and beat a lot of the guys they lost to a year ago, and they were pretty dominant. A lot of the teams I coach are a lot of multi-sport athletes. That just does it.” “But this group was really dedicated to getting better. They played together all summer and all winter (the change) was due to the hard work they put in.”
Feke agreed, the team, led by the seniors, came together to make this season special.
“On the weekends, days off, we were always together, working as hard as possible to get wins,” he said. “High school tennis has been the highlight of my last four years here. The competitiveness, the memories with an amazing group of guys, I’m going to miss it a lot.”
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