Wellesley Boys' and Girls' Tennis Squads Advance to South Division 1 Finals

The clouds that had been spitting like a 3-year-old on Hunnewell Park's hardcourt octet were now producing the stream of an entire preschool, and coaches Alan Brazier of Wellesley and Hedley Smith of Barnstable agreed it was time to pull their girls off the increasingly slick surfaces.

All their girls, except Caroline Taylor and Jasmine Opie.

The Raiders had already gotten wins from ace Abby Henry, 6-0, 6-0, over Brie Campbell, and No. 3 singles player Jane Marchetti, 6-1, 6-2, against Kelsey Tynan. Taylor, a savvy senior, had cruised to a 6-1 first-set victory over Opie, a sophomore who picked up a racket for the first time this spring. But the Barnstable novice had rallied in the second, keeping the set on-serve and thwarting Taylor's first match point, when the Wellesley veteran had a break opportunity, up 5-4.

"Gutsiest kid I've ever coached," Smith said of Opie, as the two volleyed back and forth.

So here they were, Taylor having just held serve to take a 6-5 lead. All their teammates now stood outside the fence. This would be the last game. If Taylor broke Opie, the match was hers; the team contest and a spot in the South Division 1 tournament championship belonged to Wellesley. If Opie held, the whole thing was suspended. No one knew when or where it would continue.

Taylor broke. Up 40-30, Opie double faulted. At deuce, Taylor came to net and struck a superbly-placed passing shot to claim the advantage. And on match point, she scalded one of her mechanically-perfect forehands that Opie could only lob high over the tape; Taylor lurked under the ball, timed its descent accurately, and blasted an overhead winner to end the soggy affair, 6-1, 7-5, and secure a 3-0 team win.

"I knew the situation," Taylor said. "They tell you not to look at the other scores, but I knew. ... I was hesitant going after some balls because it was so wet, and I didn't want to fall. I'm glad I closed it out playing well, instead of her making an error."

Neither doubles match finished. At the time play was halted, Lucy Brennan and Haley Blatz led Devon Bentivegna and Meghan Talerman, 6-7, 6-1, 4-1. Evelyn Garrity and Katie Cecene were on top of Sammy Beynor and Noelle Sabbatt, 6-2, 4-3, serving at 15-30.

The Raiders will host Needham at 2  p.m. Friday at the Hunnewell Field courts.

Their male counterparts too are on to a South Division 1 title match, after beating the boys from Barnstable, 3-0, in a match coaches ended even before the girls stopped.

No. 1 singles player Ilya Levin took down Justin Blaze, 6-2, 6-1; Chris Cua handled Fernando Teixeira, 6-0, 6-3; and Mike Pratt blanked Max Penn, 6-0, 6-0.

The duo of Gordon Peters and Alex Robertson led Blake Blaze and Mike Casey, 7-5, 5-4, with the pairs on-serve in the second set. David MyKrantz and Jeff Baldwin trailed Colby Blaze and Jake Mathieu, 3-4, on-serve in the first.

"I'm pretty happy with the way we played," head coach Mike Sabin said. "I'd like Ilya to work on a couple things before the next match. Chris played really well, and our No. 1 doubles team looked good. That's the best team they've faced all year."

The gents will face Needham on  Saturday at Newton South High School. Due to scheduling conflicts, the 2nd Doubles Match will start at 12:00pm, while the other four matches will begin at 2:00pm.