The Randolph Boys Tennis team opened the season with seven straight losses against strong competition but rebounded as the schedule began to ease, earning its first two wins.

After a seventh consecutive loss on April 20 against Chatham, head coach Daniel DiNozzi urged his players to reset. “I told the team to forget that match and focus on the rest of the week,” he said.

That paid off as the team won the next two games.

Randolph 3, Mountain Lakes 2 (April 21)

Randolph defeated Mountain Lakes 3-2 behind a dominant performance from junior captain Kaushik Kanugula, who won 6-1, 6-0 at first singles to set the tone.

“Being first singles can be tough as there is a lot of pressure, but by being confident and determined, the victories will come,” Kanugula said.

Siddharth Vidali followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win at second singles. After dropping the third singles and first doubles matches, the Rams secured the victory in second doubles as Mark Hurley and Mehul Makhija battled to a 7-6, 6-3 win.

Randolph 3, Morris Hills 2 (April 23)

Randolph continued its momentum with a 3-2 win over Morris Hills.

Kanugula again won at first singles, but the Rams fell behind after losses at second and third singles. The first doubles team of Ishaan Devanand and Henry Guo tied the match with a three-set victory, 7-6, 5-7, 10-5.

“The win against Hills was a very big win; we needed that one,” Makhija said. “At 2-2 toward the end of the match, our first doubles team played their heart out and won.”

Randolph clinched the match in second doubles with a decisive 6-0, 6-4 win.

“It was a really encouraging week after a difficult start to the season,” DiNozzi said. “We hope to keep that momentum rolling the rest of the season.”

Morris Hills 3, Randolph 2 (April 29)

The two schools faced off again six days later, but with flipped results. Once again, after the first four matches the teams were tied 2-2 with it all coming down to the second doubles match.

This time, however, it didn’t go in the Rams’ favor as Makhija and Hurley dropped the match and Randolph lost 3-2

Randolph will look to bounce back when it faces Delbarton on Tuesday, May 5.