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Senior Day
The Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis team seniors, left to right: Luke Bourque, Fabian Meiser, Will Gajewski, Tee Bae celebrate Senior Day prior to a match with Montville May 17 at the Bentley Athletic Complex. Photo



For the second week in a row, the Woodstock Academy boys’ tennis team played four matches.
The Centaurs were successful in three of them.
The Academy started the week with a 7-0 win over St. Bernard May 14; lost to Ledyard May 16 5-2, but beat Montville 6-1 and Stonington 5-2 to end the week with a 10-7 overall record.
The win over Stonington guaranteed the Centaurs a spot in the Class M state tournament which begins on Saturday.
Along the way, the team also celebrated Senior Day prior to the victory over Montville.
The Centaurs honored their four seniors who will be leaving the program.
Will Gajewski and Fabian Meiser have been with the program for the last three years and served as captains this season.
“Fabian is really leading as a captain and helping turn this program around. I couldn’t be prouder of how he won his match against Stonington on Friday,” said Centaurs coach Ann Rathbone.
Both Meiser and Gajewski made the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament this week along with No. 1 singles player, David Fleck.
“Will is really working hard this year as the other captain in helping younger guys feel welcome and pushing them and the program toward a better future,” Rathbone said.
Gajewski will attend Boston College in the fall while Meiser will move on to Manhattanville College where he plans to continue to play tennis for the Division III institution.
Tee Bae was a senior doubles player for the Centaurs who only started playing the game last year. He progressed to being a part of the No. 2 doubles team this season.
“Tee came out last year but could not commit full time because of work. This year, he was totally in and was a big reason for the team’s success,” Rathbone said.
Bae and freshman doubles partner, Stefan Chervenkova, also qualified for the ECC tournament this week.
Bae will move on in the fall to Michigan State University.
Luke Bourque was a first-year player as a senior for the Centaurs and he held his own at No. 3 doubles, often playing with Connor Quinn.
“Luke came out as a senior to play, great addition to our team as a positive person, a lot of fun,” Rathbone said.
Bourque will attend Springfield College in the fall.
The No. 1 doubles team of Matt Tiffany and Aidan Stewart also qualified for the ECC tournament this week.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director