Rocky Hill Tennis Reaches Milestone

(Head coach Mike Dudis (middle) with Alicia Dabek and Brooke Chao to his right and Reva Shah and Urja Desai to his left)

When Mike Dudis took over as the head coach of girls’ tennis team at Rocky Hill, the program was struggling to find an identity.

“To be honest I had no idea what I was doing. I took over and the program was relatively in shambles, we were coming off a two-win season and it was more of a club activity rather than a sport,” recalled Dudis, “The goal was to make it a more serious thing and since then we’ve been building up to where we are now.”

Six years and five straight state tournament appearances later, Dudis and his Terriers are coming off their first quarterfinals berth in school history after upsetting St. Paul Catholic in the first round of the Class S tourney on May 27.

“St. Paul in my opinion was our best win of the season, because they were a good team with two super strong players at the 1 and 2 spots. We got swept 1 through 3 singles rather quickly and we were down 3-0,” stated Dudis, whose team rallied to defeat the fifth ranked Falcons 4-3, “I knew our best chance was to win four singles and sweep the three doubles and that’s what we did.”

Dudis described the tourney victory as a total team effort, which was spearheaded by a pair of the team’s captains that serendipitously became doubles partners late in the regular season.

Seniors Urja Desai and Brooke Chao trailed 2-4 in their match against St. Paul, but stormed back to win 6-4, 6-2, keeping the team’s chances of winning alive.

“It was amazing,” Chao said of the tourney victory, “The last couple of matches were the best matches that I’ve had my whole career in high school. It felt very good especially because I was playing with Urja. We’ve been friends for a long time and through the tough times we encouraged each other. Once we were together, we were undefeated. We were 6 and 0.”

Desai entered the season as the team’s #1, but a series of injuries hindered the all-conference athlete and her senior season almost ended after she injured her lower leg in early May.

“When she got hurt against Manchester it was a bad injury. It was coupled with the worst loss we’ve had in six years as a program. We lost a match that we never should have lost, but I was more concerned with Urja. It was just a rough day and by far the worst day of the season. She told me that night that she had fractured her ankle. I was really bummed for her, but they got a second opinion and it was just a bad sprain,” recalled Dudis, “She couldn’t move all that well when she came back and it wasn’t fair to put her in a singles position. She had asked me during her sophomore year to play doubles and I said you’re never playing double ever again. It was just ironic that she ended up finishing out 6-0 where she started as a freshman and made all-conference her first two years. Without her coming back there is no way that we make the quarterfinals.”

“When I got hurt everyone had to move up and I’m so thankful that they took whatever was coming their way. When I wasn’t playing I felt the team was a little unstable because everyone changed their positions. I was just trying to be out there supporting them and helping them out,” said Desai, who has been playing tennis since age 11 and credits Dudis for helping make her a better player, “He’s amazing, he actually one of my sole supporters throughout my tennis career. He’s been there from day one and been there through all of my ups and downs, every single one.”

Chao and Desai make up half of the team’s captain from this past spring. Alicia Dabek and Reva Shah make up the other half.

“I was motivated to do tennis by my sister who played tennis before me. I decided to try and it turns out that I really liked the sport. I like that it’s an individual sport. It’s very graceful, it’s not really rugged or brutal,” said Dabek, who started playing as a freshman, “After my first year, I started to comprehend it and I got better. I’m proud of the progression I’ve made. I never thought I would have gotten this far, to still be playing after four years.”

Shah was elected captain as a junior and assumed the number one singles position after the injury to Desai. She thrived in her new role, finishing with a record of 11-4.

“I had the privilege of being one of the captains and I felt like I knew the girls a lot better and I was able to bond with them a lot more closely. I felt like I had all of their support and I also felt like I had more experience,” said Shah, who reflected fondly on the tournament victory, “Being on the team to make it there was definitely an accomplishment. It felt amazing and I feel like I played a big part in it.”

Shah went on to compete in the Open Finals at Yale in early June. She held her own, before losing 8-4 to Elena Tormo of Holy Cross.

“I think it will help a lot. Now I can see how good the girls really are and that will make me want to practice that much harder,” Shah said about the New Haven-based competition, “Last year I didn’t play anyone with that great of an ability, so I thought maybe they hit it a little faster, but I hadn’t played anyone like her. Now I know how much room there is for growth.”

The four captains helped pave the way for the most successful season in program history, finishing 12-7 in the regular season and winning the division championship for the first time in school history. The team finished 5-0 in the CCC South-White, a division that will be non-existent next year.

“This was something that we’ve been building for three years and this group set the goal at the beginning of the season to win the division, which I had been talking about since we lost to Berlin last year,” stated Dudis, whose team defeated Berlin 4-3 on April 28, “I told them afterwards that we are forever the CCC South-White champions, because there is no more South-White division. This group has come together tremendously. We had two major injuries and I’ve done more coaching this year than I’ve ever done and the kids responded. That’s probably the best thing I can say about this group, they’ve responded to adversity and still pushed through.”

“The captains have been great. They were awesome and they’re part of the history of getting this first step,” continued Dudis, “Whatever we do beyond this has a lot to do with them and the way that they brought this together. Now hopefully people around the school will recognize that we’re starting to become a bigger program.”

The Terriers, who defeated Woodland 7-0 in the qualifying round prior to their victory over St. Paul, lost in the second round to Weston, who went on to repeat as Class S state champions. The loss was just another building block for the budding program.

“It meant a lot to the program and it was a great experience to go down there. I tried telling the girls that this is a defending state champion and they have some players that are just awesome,” stated Dudis.

The quarterfinal defeat signified the end of high school tennis for a handful of seniors, but the foundation has been laid for another tourney run next spring.

Shah, who is coming off her second straight all-CCC selection, will return along talented juniors Nicole Chamberlain (17-4) and Melanie Holmes, who had won six straight matches prior to suffering an injury. Sophomore Rachel Calcagni also got some valuable singles experience this spring.

“I want to practice a lot more with my dad. I don’t want to stop playing because the season is over,” said Shah, who also runs cross country and indoor track, “I want to come back next year a lot stronger.”

Doubles partners Aly Fishberg and Katrina Granovskiy will also be returning after teaming up to win 17 of their 19 matches together.

Marisa Anderson and freshman Rekha Dunn will also be back, after joining forces to win a pair of tournament matches as doubles partners.

“Obviously the goal next year is to repeat as champions and that’s going to be tough to do,” stated Dudis, “We picked up a first place schedule, but I fully expect us to compete with Wethersfield for that division title. I believe we’re the top two teams in the division and we did lose to them this year, so I will be circling that game just like I did the Berlin game this year. We have a chance next year to have our strongest team ever. I really believe that, because we have so much varsity experience.”

Dudis’ main focus is his tennis team, but he also doubles as an assistant football and boys’ basketball coach, as well as coaching various summer league teams.

“It makes the year go by so fast,” the dedicated coach said of his hectic schedule, “For me I’m at a point in my life where I love the community, I love the school, and the kids make it easy. We have a great group of kids in whatever sport I coach and I also have to give a shout out to the parents. I have not dealt with an issue in six years. That makes it a lot easier, because you know you have the support of the parents.”

Come next spring Dudis will have his tennis team back on the court striving towards the next goal, but it will be without the three graduating captain, who are all off to the University of Connecticut. The trio reflected glowingly on their experiences at Rocky Hill.

“This team has just been amazing. I’ve been a pain to this team with all my injuries and I know that they have been there for me through all of my ups and downs for all four years. I’m so grateful that I was part of this amazing team,” said Desai, who will study Business Administration at Storrs.
“It was wonderful to leave the school by achieving that goal and milestone that we set for ourselves. It’s a very fun team. We’re like a second family, which is very nice. It’s a wonderful atmosphere,” added Dabek.

“When I was a sophomore I was just trying to get the ball over the net, but now I can focus more on where I want to get the ball. I can slam it, I can go down the alley, I can control the ball a lot more,” added Chao, who will join Dabek as they each work towards degrees in the medical field, “This was a very fun team to be on. There are girls from all different social groups and backgrounds, but we all get along so well. We motivate each other, we cheer each other on. It’s an environment that you can’t explain, it’s amazing. You have to be in it to understand,”

Dudis praised the seniors for creating a winning environment and summed up the impressions left by the departing players.

“The lasting impression of this team is that 2017 championship banner. I told the girls that it’s something that you can look back on that will be up there forever. That’s the lasting legacy that this team will have and that legacy will be a big part of these seniors.”

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