When Joe Belanger first met his new head coach, the idea of having a basketball mentor lead a tennis team “had to be a joke.”

A year later, Belanger is the first you’ll hear explaining why Aaron Abood was the best person for the job.

Learning what makes a good coach, Belanger steps into his final season on Memorial’s boys tennis team with confidence, poise and one very important goal.

“Make the playoffs,” said Belanger.

“Memorial hasn’t done that in forever, and now it’s only the top eight teams make it, and they’re pretty respected. When coach first came on, I thought it wouldn’t work but he and coach (Keith) Bike really surprised us because they knew how to lead.”

And it was the leadership Abood brought that outweighed the tennis knowledge he lacked.

Transforming a 1-14 team in 2005 into a 7-7 squad last season, the Crusaders junior varsity boys basketball coach brought an air of intensity and competition to a struggling tennis program.

Belanger, Abood’s No. 1 seed, said the team took a positive turn thanks to Abood and Bike’s fitness regimen. Regular conditioning combined with more drills to enhance physical endurance whipped the Crusaders into shape.

“I tried to bring some new things,” said Abood. “Obviously basketball is more physical, so I tried to mix things up. In the past things were a little light-hearted, but the past couple years, I think the team’s really taking things more seriously.”

Belanger agreed, saying Abood’s approach provided the structure the team needed. Off to a 5-2 start as of May 1, the Crusaders are on pace to far surpass last year’s win total. Its losses were in tiebreakers to Salem and Nashua South.

“We’re one point or one game away from being (7-0),” said Abood. “Having only a couple players that have played tennis before high school also gives us another challenge. We’re doing all right so far, but to make the playoffs would be pretty big.”

Joining Belanger in the top six are freshman Isiah Prosper in the No. 2 spot, senior co-captain Shane Johnston, A.J. Bouthiette, Jeff Lemay and Andrew Provencher. The Crusaders doubles teams pair Belanger and Prosper, Johnston and Cody Bolan and Lemay and Joe Hogan.

“You can tell they know how to coach, and they definitely gave us the push we needed,” said Belanger. “It’s important we make the tournament, especially now most of us are seniors, but also because we want to show we deserve some respect, too.”

The Crusaders face rival Central on Friday, May 4.