Boys' Tennis vs. Andover

Boys’ varsity A tennis finished its injury-filled season with a 1-6 defeat against Andover on Wednesday.

"It was a tough match because Andover had just come off of their New England Championship, and they were at the top of their game," co-captain and senior Kelvin Lee said.

Prep Rex Tercek thought that injuries were a key factor to the team’s loss against Andover. "It really negatively affected the team that so many people are injured - Charlie can't move well laterally because his ankle is hurt, my left wrist is injured so I can't hit backhands, Paul just recovered from a back injury, and Kelvin has had some shoulder problems," he said. "We would have definitely had a better chance if everyone was at full strength."

Lower Kenny Tao, who played as #1, earned the only win of the match. Lee, who played as #2, was also dominating his opponent in his match, having won the first set 6-2, but had to retire due to medical reasons.

The team ended the season with a winning record, despite the various injuries that plagued them. Uppers Charlie Boyd and Paul Lee were out for the majority of the season, during which Boyd had an injured ankle and shoulder, and Lee had chronic back problems. Tao and Kelvin Lee were also injured during the season, playing their matches with wrist and shoulder injuries, respectively.

"As a team, we worked well together as a group," Boyd said. "We weren’t as good as we were last year, but even if we had a lot of injuries, we were still able to play with whatever we had and win many matches."

Wednesday’s match against Andover marked the last match for the senior co-captains Kelvin Lee and Henry Cilek, and senior Will Yu. Lee fondly reflected upon his four years playing for the varsity A tennis team. "Tennis has been a huge part of my life here at Exeter and I will miss the team very much," he said. "I felt very determined to win my match on Wednesday as it was the last time I would be playing for Exeter, and I am very pleased with the way I played my first set. I am very grateful to the team and to Coach Greene for such a memorable and exciting season."

Teammates praised Tercek, who started the season as a varsity B player and then made his way up towards varsity A, to fill the spots of the injured varsity A players. "Rex was especially impressive, stepping his game up to play for the varsity A," Tao said. "He, as with other players on the varsity A team, matured a lot over the season."

On Saturday, Tao will be playing in the New Englands Individual Tournament, working to defend his championship title. Teammates showed their support for Tao. "Only Kenny will be playing in the individual tournament on Saturday from our team, but I am very confident that he will win his matches and defend his title," Lee said.

Tao expressed his hope to perform well at the individual tournament. "I hope that my preparation over the season and training over the next two days will help me during the weekend," he said.