Waterford — Ralph DiSaia has coached the Waterford High School boys' tennis team for 13 seasons. He's had more successful groups than this year's team, including two that were unbeaten.

There’s one thing that Waterford's 2015 edition has done that no other team has during DiSaia’s 13 years: it swept the season series against rival and measuring stick East Lyme.

“They have the ability to not be intimidated or get tense in close situations,” DiSaia said after Wednesday’s 4-3 win over East Lyme. “They may not have the best strokes and the best style, but they have figured out a way to win points and to get gritty and get down and dirty and win the matches.”

Senior co-captain Willie Dong said: “Being able to beat them twice in a row is a huge accomplishment.”

Camiren Carter won the No. 2 singles match for the Lancers (15-1), who had already won their 11th Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division title.

The teams of Samson Herbert and Matthew Hausmann, Evan Burdsall and Mike Castelpoggi and Dylan Vitale and Mike Gianakos gave Waterford a doubles sweep.

Suryansh Patel, Nick Hotary and Eric Wu won at singles for East Lyme (13-2).

“We’ve never, ever suffered two losses in a season (to them),” eight-year East Lyme coach Susan Welshock said. “It’s hard when you work (so hard), but (the Lancers) work just as hard, as well. We’re very strong teams, but it just didn’t go our way this time. They’re great. They were gracious. They’re good players. They have good strategy, well-trained.”

Patel defeated Dong in the No. 1 singles match 6-4, 7-6 in one of the most compelling contests of the day. Patel had bronchitis and dragged himself through the match.

“He wasn’t going to even play today,” Welshock said. “He called me and said he was going home because he couldn’t play today … but then he felt a little better and said, ‘I’m coming.’

“I said, ‘I could put you in No. 1 doubles because you’re not feeling well.’ But he said, ‘No, I’m going to win No. 1 singles no matter how badly I feel.’”

Dong was unfazed by the loss.

“My opinion is that sports are all about having fun and doing your best,” Dong said, “so winning and losing are not that big of a deal to me. I thought I played very well, so that’s the biggest thing for me.

“As a team, winning is a great feeling. Individual losses, that’s fine. It’s all for the team. Tennis, people may say it’s not a team sport, but over the years I’ve grown to appreciate it as a team sport. So just being able to win as a team, seeing everyone happy, that’s the best feeling.”

Burdsall and Castelpoggi ground out a 6-0, 2-6, 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles, one of just two matches that went to three sets.

Vitale and Gianakos won the last match of the day 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3 doubles to give Waterford the win.

“As I said to them earlier today, ‘You’ll have the rare opportunity to see coach smile twice in the same season,’” DiSaia said. “I can be a little crusty and a little sarcastic, much like a lot of coaches that you see. In order to get the most out of them, you really have to push them. It’s not always pretty, but they have responded nicely and they’ve risen to the occasion.

“We practice six days a week. During vacation week, we had four matches and we did double-session practices. These guys have paid their dues. They’ve done an incredible amount of work. Now it’s coming to fruition. I’m happy for them.”

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED