Winchester Boys Join Girls In Trip To EMass Final

Winchester athletic director Marc Arria is going to need a bigger bus.

The Winchester boys' tennis team will join the girls' team in making the trek to Shrewsbury Tuesday after beating Belmont, 5-0, in Friday's Division 2 North final. The boys will play for the Division 2 EMass title against South champion Duxbury at St. John's of Shrewsbury at 4:30 p.m. It's a rematch of the 2016 final won by the Sachems. Before that, the Winchester girls will take to the same courts at 2:30 p.m. to face Martha's Vineyard in the Division 2 EMass final.

Against Belmont (13-7), the Sachems were facing a team they had already beaten twice during the regular season. But the Marauders caught fire in the tournament, winning three matches including a 5-0 blanking of top-seeded North Andover.

Winchester (18-2) was led by senior Noah Criss. The Swarthmore-bound Criss beat Caleb Harris, 6-0, 6-0 at first singles to give his team a quick lead. At No. 2 singles, freshman Eli Criss played the longest match of the day but prevailed on the Reading High courts, 7-6, 6-3, over Jackson Luce. At No. 3 singles, Alex Dickinson beat Belmont's Miles Mamigonian, 6-1, 4-6, 10-8.

In doubles, the No. 1 team of Grant Andrews and Will Hofheinz won, 6-1, 7-5. At second doubles, Owen Sullivan and Mark DeMichaelis took a 6-2, 6-1 win to complete the sweep.

Tuesday's EMass title matches are the end of the line in Division 2. There are no Central or Western Mass schools in Division 2.