One year ago, the Suffield Boys’ Varsity Tennis Team made SHS history by taking the 2025 Connecticut State Championship in Class S for the first time. After this groundbreaking season, the team, led by their next year’s captains, Tommy Bishop and Nayan Tummalapally, set their sights on some new goals. This might have seemed to be a tall order, since they would be graduating their #1 and #3 singles players, Josh Zenczak and Nate Burke, and #1 and #2 doubles players Donovan Burrows and Nick Diana. First, the captains and veterans established an initial goal of taking the NCCC Championship for the first time in 25 years, along with the conference tournament to cap it off. Next, they also set sights on a feat that might have seemed to be an insurmountable task, to become back-to-back state champions, which in the history of Suffield Wildcat sports has only been accomplished in one sport – soccer, which has been SHS’s most decorated sport for generations.
Photo by Amy Kappen
From l to r: Tommy Bishop, Harry Stauffer, Niko Kappen, Jackson Davis, Joe Zenczak, Nayan Tummalapally, Arnav Ukidwe, Tim Dubovyy, Avishkar Kasilya, Calvin Adappoort, Coach Carl Casinghino
Tommy and Nayan took the intitiative to hold captains’ sessions and organized meetings to recruit players. Tommy and Nayan are leaders in many pursuits in their lives, including both being award-winning musicians at the high school, so they set forward on their mission with maturity, experience, and confidence. Tommy also played in many USTA tournaments and clinics in order to prepare for the rigors of potentially playing in the #1 spot on the team.
This past March, the team’s season began and a strong ladder of players began to establish the team as a force still to be reckoned with, including wins over Simsbury and division rivals Ellington and Granby. However, the season was not without its setbacks and challenges, as they also suffered some hard-fought losses. Then, after coming out ahead in the conference during the regular season, at the NCCC championships the team was able to triumph in the tournament, placing players in 6 out of the 7 finals for the ladder positions (4 singles matches and 3 doubles, including one clutch win at #3 doubles by Calvin Adappoor and Avishkar Kasiliya), and securing enough victory points to win by 1 over Ellington. Now it was on to the state championships.
After initial state championship rounds that were marked by comfortable victories, for the second year in a row Suffield faced a considerable challenge in the tournament semi-finals: this time taking on Morgan, who were up to then undefeated, with a 20-0 record. The Wildcats had lost to Morgan earlier in the season, but they also knew that they were capable of more, with both singles and doubles players working to improve their games, including mental toughness and the ability to assess and overcome the wide range of challenges encountered in matches.
For the second year in a row, junior Harrison Stauffer played his best match of the season in the semis. As he took and held on to an early lead, his captain Tommy Bishop shouted encouragement to him with “Let’s go, Harry!” from the next court while Tommy was also fighting in his own match at #1 to reach a first-set tiebreak. Harry went on to avenge an earlier loss to his Morgan opponent to take his match at #2 singles 6-3, 6-1. Meanwhile, #3 singles player Niko Kappen was demonstrating the strengths in his game that he had developed over the course of his winning season, triumphing with a solid 6-2, 6-2. This left the balance of the season in the hands of the doubles teams, just as had been the case in last year’s semis against Stonington.
The undefeated #2 doubles team of Arnav Ukidwe and Tim Dubovvy were facing the toughest challenge they had met during the entire season, ending up down by multiple games in both of their sets, but in each one coming back to take the match 7-5, 6-4. At that point, it was down to the #1 doubles team of Nayan Tummalapally and Joe Zenczak. Both Nayan and Joe came up with clutch shots, including a series of service winners and aces by Joe, to pull off the match in a super-tiebreak, winning 6-2, 4-6, 10-8, at which point all of the Suffield players streamed onto the court to cheer and lift up their teammates. Now it was on to the state finals to play Shepaug Valley, who, like Morgan, boasted an exceptional record with only one close loss to Class L powerhouse Pomperaug.
In the finals, the #2 doubles team of Arnav Ukidwe and Tim Dubovyy completed their unbeaten season by a 6-1, 6-2 margin. Soon after, Niko Kappen completed his undefeated run at #3 in the state tournament with a decisive 6-1, 6-1 win. Meanwhile, at the #4 position, Jackson Davis had started the match in the best form of his season, but he was also fighting a painful knee injury. After some help from the trainer, he continued the first set and played his finest match of the year, combining all of the strongest elements of his game with a solid mix of consistency and winners, taking the victory 6-3, 6-4.
Now it was down to one more victory to take the match, and once again it came down to a dramatic nail-biter at #1 doubles. In their first set, Nayan and Joe had come back after digging themselves into a hole early on, and they were able to take the first set 7-5. In the second set, they continued to engage in a back-and-forth duel with the Shepaug Valley team, but once again they went down 5-3. Point by point, they clawed back, taking the match to 5-5. Down 5-6, they fended off two match points, including one won thanks to a clutch lob by Nayan as all the teammates, families, and fans on the sidelines held their breath. Then they played a tiebreak for the set, which again seesawed between the two teams, until Joe once again showed the consistency of his return game and then finished things off with a blistering forehand passing shot to take the match with a final score of 7-5, 7-6 (8-6). With that shot, Suffield won 4-3.
Soon after, Coach Carl Casinghino got doused in a gatorade shower and, after walking over to the Shepaug team for heartfelt handshakes with their opponents, the team received their medals and plaque as 2026 Connecticut State Champions for Class S. Having achieved the substantial goals they had set for the team, the captains and all their teammates convincingly demonstrated their approach of constantly working together to improve their skills and to develop their match confidence, focus, and resolve, embodying the attitude of “Never Give Up” – through the entire lineup, it was the story of their season.