The Lexington boys' tennis team defeated St. John's Prep 4-1 Monday in the quarterfinals of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) North Division I quarterfinals.
Second-seeded Lexington (21-0) moves on to the semifinals and will face either No. 11 Acton-Boxboro or No. 3 Andover, who will play each other in Andover on Tuesday.
The Minutemen will host the semifinals in Lexington on Thursday.
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"This is serious tennis," said St. John's coach Mark Metropolit. "I've been coaching at this school for 22 years, and this is the next level. There's always a rivalry with these guys. They're always a good team."
Only one match went past two sets on Monday.
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In the first singles match, Lexington senior Cameron Ghorbani won decisively in two sets against John Corri of St. John's. Ghorbani's return shots and volleys wowed a mostly St. Johns' Prep-supporting crowd, and his athleticism outmatched that of Corri.
Ghorbani's low-key, relaxed style of play was evident when he attempted a trick shot and simply laughed at himself for missing it. He played comfortable to Corri's more tense style and took the second set 6-2 in the quickest match of the day.
The second and third singles matches were won in straight sets as well by the Minutemen's Mark Pranchiok and Jeremy Weiser, but both were much closer than Ghorbani's match.
The second doubles match also finished quickly. Seniors Arjun Thonke and Kyung Jeon won their second set decisively 6-2 and were dominant for the entire match.
The closest and lengthiest match of the day was the No. 1 doubles match between Lexington senior Andrew Herrera and freshman Dan Maffa and St. Johns' Brad Noyes and Ian Wright.
St. Johns won the match, but only after each side won one set and six games apiece in the third set. Noyes and Wright took the tiebreaker to garner St. Johns' only point of the day, quieting a raucous Lexington crowd who'd gathered to watch the last match end.
Noyes and Wright won the only sets for St. John's Prep. Every other match was decided for Lexington in straight sets. Even though the two boys from St. Johns knew their team wouldn't advance, they still gave their all and came out on top of their own match.
St. John's Prep goes home for the season with a 14-6 record.
