Celebrating a win on senior night, the varsity boys tennis team defeated Plainfield East High School on Tuesday night.

The Wolves competed in a combination of singles and doubles matches throughout the evening, gathering wins that aid to their undefeated season. 

The night was full of emotion throughout all levels as the program prepared to say goodbye to the class of 2022 as a senior-packed roster played one of their last scheduled home games. 

Senior Vivek Parashar competed in a duos match and said that work from the season has paid off thus far. 

“We knew that to win we just needed to return the ball once and keep the serve to get to them,” Parashar said.

Junior Arjun Ramesh said the seniors have certainly aided in the success that the program has seen in the past and throughout this season.

“This year 7 of our 13 varsity members are seniors, so their presence in the program cannot be understated,” Ramesh said. “These seniors have stepped up to the plate and have kept East tennis strong.”

Although Ramesh could acknowledge the senior’s legacy in the program, he himself added to the total success of the night with a win in his solo match. 

“My game was tough, they were a really good team. They received the ball pretty well but I felt prepared for what they brought,” Ramesh said. “It is great to see success at this point in the season because we top the conference, even if matches are close, we are still able to put put a win.” 

After the victory, junior solos competitor Luke Exner agreed with the overall success of the season thus far and said that it stems from the environment the team has together. 

“We’re all really committed to succeeding and we work really hard in order to achieve that success,” Exner said. “Even though it’s kind of an individual sport, the team element involved in tennis is still very much present because we are all working towards the same goal.” 

The sentiment is shared by Parashar, who found victory in his duos matchup.

“The match was against quality opponents. Great plays on both sides but we came out on top since we’ve been practicing for tough teams like that together at practice,” Parashar said. 

Fellow duos competitor Ryan Briguez shares the emotions that any senior student-athlete feels, but looks forward to still competing while he can. After he and partner Parashar pull out a win, confidence is high for the rest of the season. 

“We played with a lot of trust in each other and that takes a lot of time so I’m proud of how stayed ahead tonight,” Briguez said. “As long as we build off of each other the rest of the season should go well.”

Head coach Mike Dutton also noted the progress the team has shown during practice along with the significant impact that the seniors have had. 

“During practice, we work on a lot of the fundamentals even with our seniors,” Dutton said. “We’ve got a good set of seniors they have got and passed down a lot of ability and  it is going to be tough to see them go.”

The emotions of being a senior with graduation nearing were prevalent at the varsity boys tennis meet against Plainfield East. 

“It’s been very emotional for me,” Parashar said. “I started off as a freshman on varsity four years ago, so seeing the team develop and grow into something so great is really awesome to see. I’m going to miss it.”

The Wolves will compete against Lincoln-Way West at home on April 28th.

Savina Trujillo is a staff writer for Oswego East High School’s online news magazine the Howl