By Andy Hutchison

Staples boys tennis finished the regular season having won nine straight matches to post a record of 12-3, a campaign in which Coach Kris Hrisovulos picked up his 300th career victory, against just 32 losses in 16 seasons. 

The milestone win came against Westhill on May 5 and the Staples coach added another victory the next day.

“Winning 300 is a special moment — couldn’t do it without the great student athletes that I’ve had. The reward of all these wins is special because I took this job 16 years ago with the intent to give back to the school I graduated from, the program I played and the town I grew up in,” Hrisovulos told Westport Journal.

The Wrecker coach is also the director of tennis at Intensity Racquet Club and led Staples to five straight FCIAC titles from 2014-18, along with several state championships.

The Wreckers are set to embark on another postseason. They are in a three-way tie for third in the FCIAC with Darien and Trumbull, behind only top seed New Canaan and No. 2 Greenwich.

The conference tournament quarterfinals commence Tuesday with the Wreckers set to entertain No. 6 Wilton (10-5) at 4 p.m. In their regular season match, Staples beat Wilton 5-2. 

Staples finished the regular season strong: They followed up back-to-back 7-0 triumphs over Danbury and St. Joseph with a 5-2 win at Westhill of Stamford on Tuesday and a 6-1 victory over visiting Ridgefield on Wednesday.

Against Ridgefield, top singles player Aleko Vergakis was beaten 6-4, 6-4. No. 2 Robert Jacob won 6-1, 6-3. No. 3 Tyler Gorin prevailed 6-0, 6-0. No. 4 Brett Fortunoff won 6-1, 7-5.

In doubles play, No. 1 Sebastian Elozondo and Andrew Ridloff won 6-2, 6-0, No. 2 Kieran Anand and Jonny Greenspan won 6-0, 6-0. No. 3 Micah Turner and Nick Trinchi won 6-0, 6-0.

Andy Hutchison

^{_{Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.}}