Warriors Advance to South Sectionals Semifinals

By Eliot Schickler

Next stop for the Brookline High boys team - the Division 1 South Sectional semifinals.

Second-seeded Brookline raised its record to 17-0 Monday with a 5-0 home victory over seventh-seeded Newton North (11-5) at Waldstein Park. The Warriors won their 59th straight match and hosts third-seeded Sharon High (15-1) Wednesday, June 23 at Waldstein Park. Brookline’s last loss came at Lexington High May 1, 2018 in a 3-2 verdict.

“It’s a good roll we’re on,” Warriors Coach Mike Mowatt said. “The kids are working hard and they are rewarded for it.”

Senior captain Noah Schwartz was efficient in bageling Newton North junior Jason Jiang, 6-0, 6-0 at third singles. The Southpaw Schwartz dominated Jiang with his strong overall game.

“It was a good match,” Schwartz said. “It wasn’t my longest match, but I had a good time on the court. I love the experience and I don’t take anything for granted.”

On most teams, the lefty Schwartz would play at first or second singles. But with Brookline being the juggernaut it is, he plays at third singles.

Also playing at a lower position than he normally would because the Warriors are loaded with high caliber players is senior captain Sam Feldman. Feldman is stellar enough to beat most first singles players on other teams, but after losing a challenge match to junior Jayanth Devaiah, 10-8 in the preseason, second singles became his spot in the lineup.

Against Newton North’s Veer Gadodia, Feldman was in total command of his and ground strokes in a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

“I just came out with a lot of energy and stayed focused from the beginning,” Feldman said.

Beating the Tigers is huge because they have a strong program that is among the upper echelon teams in the state. Feldman and Schwartz leave Brookline with a 9-0 team record against Newton North.

“We always had a very good team at singles and doubles,” Feldman said. “We’ve always had a full lineup with no weaknesses.”

Speaking of Devaiah, he displayed his tenacity and skill at first singles even though he played in a United States Tennis Association (USTA) match in Springfield, Mass. at 11 a.m. that day. After making the two-hour return trip from Western Mass., Devaiah defeated Tiger senior Leo Kaluzhny, 7-5, 6-1.

“I was tired because I played a USTA match earlier today, but I fought through it,” said Devaiah, who lost a hard-fought match in Springfield. “I bounced back and fought through the fatigue.”

Kaluzhny won the first game of the second set, but Devaiah reeled off six straight wins on hard-fought points to claim an important victory. Devaiah’s steady game of getting to Kaluzhny’s shots and forcing the Tiger into hitting errors was crucial to their match.

“I just focused on my match and played my game,” Devaiah said.

At first doubles, senior captain Vardaan Kharbanda and freshman Dhevin Nahata were steady with their serves, returns and net game in a 6-3, 6-3 win over junior Nico Cochran and sophomore Sid Pradham.

Newton North won only one set and that came at second doubles. Warrior junior Anders St. Clair and sophomore Jacob Kapusta won the first set at second doubles with St. Clair displaying a masterful serve and Kapusta playing well at the net.

However, Tiger junior Jehan Antra and sophomore Duncan Naylor dominated the second set to force a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match.

After falling behind 2-0 in the tiebreaker, St. Clair and Kapusta bounced back by scoring seven out of the next eight points to take a commanding, 7-3 lead. St. Clair and Kapusta both served well with the latter having a service ace and St. Clair dropping a winner in the shallow end of Newton North’s court.

In the end, St. Clair and Kapusta turned back Antra and Naylor, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 10-4. The match ended when Naylor’s return was out by a country mile.

“Newton North was shorthanded, but the Bay State Conference is pretty deep, and we worked as hard as we could against them,” Mowatt said. “We won the big points, especially in doubles.”

If Brookline beats Sharon, which its favored to do, it will face either fourth-seeded Wellesley High (15-3) or eighth-seeded Needham High (12-4) at a neutral site to be determined. The Warriors beat both teams in the regular season and would be favored in that match.

In all likelihood, Brookline would face Lexington in the Eastern Mass. Finals and that match would be for the de facto state championship because whoever takes the match, whether it’s the Warriors or the Minutemen, they would be a prohibitive favorite over the Central Mass.-Western Mass. winner. Brookline’s winning streak would reach 63 matches if it wins out.

“That’s our goal, but we’ll have to take it one match at a time,” Mowatt said. “Every team out there is strong and experienced and they have previously won state titles.”

Mowatt is a first-year coach for the Warriors, but has been a successful coach at Oliver Ames and Xaverian Brothers High before taking time off. Feldman and Schwartz were starters during the first two title runs and Kharbanda was a backup on both teams.

“There’s been so many matches, but I’m glad we were able to stay focused after a one-year break [the 2020 season cancelled because of Covid-19] and able to win our matches,” Schwartz said.

Feldman said, “It’s awesome and I hope we can keep it going.”