Southeast Varsity Boys Tennis competed at State last week on Oct. 15 and 16. While many events and activities have been affected by COVID-19, Coach Chris Salem said that the season felt surprisingly normal, with the only difference being mask wearing. One of the team’s main focuses this year was on positivity and confidence. One phrase Coach Salem often said this season was “you don’t have to be perfect to be successful.”

At State the team finished fourth overall with Graham Peterson (12) and Nathaniel Rathe (12) finishing first in #1 doubles–beating East 6-1–and Cooper Woods (12) and Camden Hjermstad (9) finishing fifth in #2 doubles. In #2 singles, Nahum Barber (9) finished fifth.

“State went really well. There were 4 teams in the state who really had a shot at winning the whole thing and we were one of those teams,” Coach Salem said. “Being able to bring home a state title at #1 doubles is just so great! LSE boys tennis hasn’t had an individual tennis title since 2012 and we haven’t won #1 doubles since 2005. [We are] very, very proud of Graham and Nathaniel.”

Coach Salem looks forward to next year and said, “I love everything about coaching for the Knights, so I guess you could say I look forward to every season. Particularly for our boys program, we are losing some really key, big time seniors–Graham, Nathaniel, Cooper and Grey–who have been extremely instrumental to our success in the last few years.”

He also looks forward to seeing who will step up to fill their shoes. “Sam Weyeneth (11) along with some of our JV guys should be ready to do just that by next Fall. I also look forward to seeing how our Freshmen from this year continue to improve after learning a lot and having great success on Varsity this year.”