Brookline Tennis Repeats as South Sectional Champs

By Eliot Schickler

BROOKLINE, MA —For the second straight year, the Brookline High boys tennis team won the Division 1 South Sectional title.

Top-seeded Brookline repeated as South Sectional champions by beating a familiar foe, third-seed Newton North, 5-0 Friday (June 14) at Medway High, raising its record to 22-0. Newton North ended its season at 17-3.

“Regardless of how many times we play them, they are our rivals and we have to play our best to beat them,” Warriors coach Nick Pero said. “It’s Brookline and Newton North and both teams get up to play each other.”

Last year, Brookline swept Newton North 5-0 in the Division 1 South Sectional finals. Both years, the Tigers were undefeated against all other teams but suffered all three losses against the Warriors.

Both formidable squads had to contend against the wind and cooler weather in Medway. However, Brookline remained undaunted in completing the sweep.

Sophomore Noah Schwartz clinched the first point of the match and came close to bageling David Arango in a resounding 6-0, 6-1 victory at second singles.

“My serve was working,” Schwartz said. “I was getting it in good spots. It’s hard to put the ball away in these conditions and it’s important to serve and volley in them.”

Schwartz was familiar with Arango’s game before the match, which helped him.

“We [Brookline and Newton North] are rivals and it’s always good to beat them,” Schwartz said. “I’ve been playing him [Arango] since I was 10 years old.”

Freshman Jayanth Devaiah delivered Brookline’s second point with a 6-1, 6-4 win at third singles over Veer Gadodia.

“I just had to stay focused and execute my game plan, game in and game out,” Devaiah said. “As long as I’m focused and poised, I’ll compete at a high level.”

Devaiah is the only newcomer from last year’s State Championship team and has fit in well. Knowing he has formidable teammates who win frequently has made it easier for him to perform proficiently.

“It’s really not much pressure because I have great teammates, and if I’m not on [my game], I know they will pick me up,” Devaiah said.

Following The Rookie’s victory, the Warriors needed only one more point to clinch the South Sectional Title. With Brookline being a strong squad, getting that point – and then some – wasn’t a problem against a talented Tiger squad.

Sophomore Sam Feldman was last year’s Bay State League’s Most Valuable Player and displayed his MVP form in a 6-3, 6-1 triumph at first singles over Leo Kaluzhny. Feldman is familiar with Kaluzhny’s game and defeated him in the regular season.

“Staying focused on every point, especially in the tough, windy conditions,” said Feldman on the key to victory. “It’s tough to adjust [to the wind] and it’s a matter of who handles it better.”
Feldman especially gets psyched when the team battles Newton North.

“It’s always the big one on our schedule because Newton North is our rival,” Feldman said.
On facing Kaluzhny again, Feldman said, “I had to stay focused.”

Shortly after Feldman clinched the overall win, both doubles teams cemented their points for the Warriors. Senior captain Josh Fleishman and junior captain Ben Moolman topped Matthew Riak and Eli Marcus, 6-2, 6-4 at First Doubles. This was a rematch of the Individual Doubles Final, which was also won by Fleishman and Moolman.

“The wind was tough, and we just played our game,” Fleishman said.

Moolman said, “We knew them because we played them before. We stayed focused and got the job done.”

At second doubles, senior captain Aaron Fleishman and junior Kei Ogawa vanquished Ben Archer and Gyaan Antia, 6-2, 6-2.

“We played this team before and knew what was coming, so we went in focused on our game plan and played our game,” Aaron Fleishman said.

Ogawa said, “I knew our opponents because we already played against them.”

Battling the wind was a challenge for Brookline’s duo at second doubles.

“Obviously, the wind played a big factor,” Ogawa said. “Last year [in the finals against Newton North at Medway], the same thing [windy conditions] happened, so we had to focus even more.”
The Warriors are not done with the familiarity game. They play the Division 1 North Champion Lexington High (22-1) at Newton North Monday at 3:30 p.m. for the Eastern Massachusetts Division 1 Title. Last year, Brookline defeated Lexington, 3-2 in the Eastern Mass. Finals and followed it up by defeating Marlboro in the State Finals for its first state title in 35 years.

“It’s way more meaningful last year because we ended a 35-year [title] drought, but this year is also good because we added a freshman [Devaiah], who is contributing,” said Schwartz, whose father Marc Schwartz (Class ’86) and uncle Howard Schwartz (Class ’84) led Brookline to its 1983 title.

Repeating as South Sectional champs is one of three goals for the Warriors. They hope repeat as Eastern Mass and State champions too.

“We knew there would be challenges this year and we had to embrace it,” Pero said. “Because of the [constant] rain, we probably only had five practices all season, but these guys have come out match after match and remained focused and competitive. You can tell that winning one [state title] wasn’t good enough.”

Josh Fleishman said, “This whole year, the pressure has risen and our performance has risen. We haven’t gotten ahead of ourselves.”

Brookline defeated the Minutemen, 4-0 at home during the regular season. Both teams didn’t have their full regular lineup with Lexington missing its second singles player.

“We just know what we have to do, and we need to stay focused,” Pero said. “We beat Lexington during the regular season, but we’re not facing the same exact team. We’re 2-2 against them [since 2017]. If we’re focused and play our game, we’ll be all right.”

Aaron Fleishman said, “It will be a whole different match and we’ll have to prepare for them differently.”

Moolman said, “It will be a great match. We haven’t seen their lineup yet.”

Similar to the NFC Championship Game of the 90s and the NBA Western Conference Finals most years this millennium, the winner of the Warriors-Minutemen tilt are favored to win the state title. Central Mass Champion Algonquin (18-2) will play Western Mass Champion Longmeadow (17-1) Monday in the other Massachusetts Semifinals matchup.

“Lexington is the toughest team we faced all year,” Josh Fleishman said. “It will be like the state final, so we’ll have to play our best.”