Sharon High Boys Tennis Flies Back Into State Division 2 Title Match

For the second straight year, is undefeated entering its final match of the year.

The state championship match.

Sweeping doubles and winning second singles, the Eagles (20-0, between the regular season and state tournament) earned their second consecutive Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Team Tennis South Division 2 title today by defeating Hingham, 3-2, in the South D2 finals, held at Medway High School.

Sharon plays North D2 champion Wayland at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Newton North High School for the championship. Wayland is seeded second in the 17-team North D2 bracket. Wayland defeated fourth-seed Reading, 3-2, in today's final.

Sharon lost to in the 2011 D2 championship match, 5-0. Sharon defeated , in the 2011 D2 final. Sharon defeated , in the quarterfinals and , in the semifinals last year.

This year, Sharon defeated ; ; ; and now Hingham in the finals.

"We went the same exact path this year that we went last year to get to the finals," Sharon head coach Matt Freeman said.

"It just feels great. I've just got a tremendous amount of pride in this program and the kids I coach. This is just a great group of guys."

The match featured the top two seeds in the 18-team South D2 bracket.

Sharon was first (16-0 regular season, 4-0 in the state tournament) and Hingham second (18-1 regular season, 3-1 in the tournament).

The Eagles clinched the victory after freshman Peter Hu defeated Hingham senior Rohan Rau, 6-2, 6-2, at second singles.

Sharon had swept doubles at that point, while Hingham had won at third singles. First and second singles were the only matches remaining on the court.

"Peter's been playing great tennis, but came up on the short end of some third set super-tiebreakers, where he'd been playing great but it comes down to best of, where we'd already clinched the other matches," Freeman said.

At first doubles, Sharon senior co-captain Eric Bloom and junior Jake Steinberg defeated Hingham seniors John Alessi and Josh Port, 6-3, 6-4.

At second doubles, Sharon senior Ben Gilman and junior Josh Dobbin defeated Hingham senior Matt Port and sophomore Sam Krumholz, 6-3, 6-3.

At third singles, Sharon senior Aditya Puttigampala lost to Hingham sophomore Reese Linton, 6-4, 6-2.

At first singles, the last match of the day, Sharon senior co-captain Vivek Nangia retired due to cramps while leading 3-1 in the third set against Hingham freshman Connor Doyle. The scores were 6-3, 3-6, 1-3 (retired).

"That's the best match I've ever seen Vivek play. And he's played some darn good matches," Freeman said.

"That kid (Doyle) is a USTA champion, and Vivek was right there with him. He was up 3-1 in the third when he had to retire."