St. John's Prep Tennis Bounced From Division 1 Tournament

Unlike Lebron James, the members of the Needham High School boys tennis team did not wilt at crunch time.

Instead, the Rockets (21-0) exhibited grace under pressure defeating , 4-1, in the Div. 1 state semi-finals at Newton North High School. The victory catapults Needham to the title match against St. John’s, which is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Algonquin High School. 

“These guys were all pretty nervous coming in,” said Needham head coach Andrew Lawrence. “It was great to see them pull it out and actually continue to stroke the ball. One of the things I really try to get them to do is whatever you do, don’t be tentative. If you are going to miss shots, miss them swinging. And that’s kind of what they did. They never really got tentative.” 

The match was decided in the second doubles, which featured a new Rocket team of Mitchell Silverman and Phil Weiner after Lawrence rotated Ben Okonow to Weiner’s usual place at third singles. The coach made the move after compiling a scouting report.

“It seemed like it was fairly clear that it was really, really going to be a tough point for us to win at three [singles],” said Lawrence. “Their second doubles team is also very good. Ours really hadn’t been challenged until that Wellesley match. And I kind of thought, like, well we really need to win one of those two doubles. Let’s actually increase the odds of us winning that second doubles match.”

After losing the first set 6-3 to Eagles’ Mike Beluch and Mark Corvi, the Rockets second unit fought back to capture the second 7-6 (7-2). That ushered in the deciding third where Weiner smashed a service-winner to take the set 6-4 and notch the match triumph.

“They definitely came out ready to play,” said Eagles coach Mark Metropolis. “And them moving that third singles player down to second doubles was probably the difference. But my kids fought. This was a battle. It was a seesaw battle up and down from top to bottom. They really came out to play. Not that we didn’t come out and play hard; they were just a little bit better than us.” 

In first doubles, Needham’s Mo Lipman and Matt Bejian won the first 6-4 before finding themselves down 3-0 in the second. But the Eagles duo of John Corvi and Bradley Noyes coughed up the lead, and the Rockets came back to take the set 7-6 (7-5). 

Rocket Aaron Revzin was once again clutch in first singles defeating Cameron Trosin in straight sets (6-2, 6-0) while teammate Aaron Segel beat Spencer Canny in an ultra-competitive second singles match, 6-4, 5-7, 6-0. 

The Eagles (19-2) tallied their lone win when Chris Toner topped Okonow in straight sets (6-0, 6-1).