Warriors Beat Familiar Foe to Claim Title

By Eliot Schickler

Familiarity didn’t breed contempt for the Brookline High boys tennis team Friday, June 25.

At the end of the match, knowing its foe worked out fine for the second-seeded Brookline tennis team in its 3-2 home victory over fourth-seeded Wellesley High at Waldstein Park in the Division 1 South Sectional championship, raising its record to 18-0. Wellesley ended its season at 16-4 with all four setbacks coming at the hands of the Warriors.

Brookline won its 61st straight match and will host Division 1 North Champion Lexington High (16-0) Sunday June 27 at 5 p.m. at Waldstein Park (see preview article).

“It feels amazing,” Warriors coach Mike Mowatt said. “It’s not our goal [to win the South Sectional title], but to beat a great team four times in a year is amazing.”

Mowatt, who had a stellar coaching career at Oliver Ames High and Xaverian Brothers in Westwood before stepping away to focus on other endeavors, applied for the job when he saw it was available. Although he previous had quality teams, this is his first Sectional title in his storied coaching career. Much to his surprise, Brookline received a banner and a plaque for winning the South Sectional title.

“This is the farthest I’ve gone [in state tournaments] and I didn’t know they give out awards,” Mowatt said. “When I saw this job opened up, I applied for it, and it’s a privilege to coach this team.”

With their fourth victory over the Raiders in 2021, this is the Warriors’ third straight South Sectional title. Brookline also won its 61st straight match and the goal is to win its third straight Division 1 State title. The Warriors need to win two more matches to achieve a three-peat.

“I’m just happy to finish my career on this winning streak and it’s my goal to win States,” Brookline senior captain Sam Feldman said.

The Warriors dominated Wellesley in singles play by sweeping the three singles matches. Feldman had a masterful serve and artistically placed drop shots for winners far away from sophomore River Cracium in a 6-1, 6-1 victory at second singles.

“The key to this match was being consistent,” Feldman said. “He [Cracium] had a good serve, but wasn’t consistent on his ground strokes, so I just tried to get my returns in.”

Feldman played a steady game and forced many Cracium errors, who moved up from third singles because sophomore Charlie Coleman, who lost to Feldman in previous matches, was out with an injury.

Southpaw senior captain Noah Schwartz delivered a point for Brookline at third singles with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over senior Jordan Monsen. Monsen moved into the lineup with Cracium moving up to second singles because of Coleman’s injury.

“He was a good player, but I was able to win because of my perseverance and desire to win and advance,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz hit his share of winners and his serve was working well because the Warrior lefty understood how important his match was.

“It feels great I was able to contribute to our 3-2 because the score wasn’t 5-0 and we couldn’t afford to lose any of the matches we won,” Schwartz said.

Brookline junior Jayanth Devaiah usually plays long points at first singles and his match against Raiders junior lefthander Harry Collomb wasn’t any different. Devaiah and Wellesley’s southpaw, who won the 2019 Individuals Singles title, play each other frequently outside of high school and long grueling matches between them is a normal occurrence.

The South Sectional finals tilt was no exception in Devaiah’s 6-1, 6-2 triumph.

“I knew Jay plays a lot of long games and it would come down to him,” Mowatt said. “Jay was up 2-1 in the first set and all of a sudden, he won it, 6-1.”

All other matches were over when Devaiah and Collomb battled in the second set. At that point, both teams had two victories and the two combatants at the top of the lineup were aware of what was at stake.

“I felt the pressure because it was a tough match, and I had tough matches with him all year,” Devaiah said. “I rely on my teammates’ support and feed off of their energy.”

This is Devaiah is 4-0 over Collomb in high school play.

“He knows my game and I know his game,” Devaiah said. “I knew I had to handle his backhand and once I did that, I knew I was fine.”

Mowatt’s goal going into every match is to win 5-0 and challenges his players – which prepares them for the big matches.

“We do all the hard work in practice,” Mowatt said. “My players are strong mentally because we challenge them, mentally.”

In doubles play, both Warrior tandems were competitive in the first set, but the two Raider combos were a service break better in both matches. Wellesley carried the momentum into the second set with ease. Raider senior captains Aidan O’Neil and Will Lewis defeated senior captain Vardaan Kharbanda and freshman Dhevin Nahata, 7-5, 6-1 at first doubles while Wellesley junior Milan Jacobs and sophomore Andrei Samarin beat junior Anders St. Clair and freshman Aarush Admala, 6-4, 6-1.

“We pride ourselves in winning and take pride in beating good teams,” Mowatt said. “We have quality players in the league and everyone wants to play better.”

Although Brookline is 4-0 against the Raiders, all of their matches were competitive and the last three could have gone the other way if one of the Warrior victories were reversed. The Warriors defeated Wellesley, 4-1 at home in the season-opener May 6, but the scores were 3-2 at Wellesley May 27 and June 15th at Waldstein in the Bay State Conference championship match.

“We were a little lucky to win all four matches,” Feldman said. “We were the better team, and had more talent."