Warriors Continue Dominance on the Court

By Eliot Schickler

Nothing on the courts can deter the Brookline High boys tennis team.

Whenever Brookline is scheduled to face an actual opponent on the court, it has no problem garnering victory. The last time the Warriors lost an actual match was May 1, 2018 when they fell 3-2 at vaunted Lexington. Since its loss to Lexington, Brookline avenged this setback three times, the 2018 and 2019 Division 1 Eastern Mass. Championship and a regular season match at the Jean B. Waldstein Tennis Courts in Brookline. All three Warrior victories over the Minutemen were 3-2 verdicts.

The only thing that has deterred the Warriors and prevented them from three-peating in 2020 was Covid-19, which cancelled the 2020 scholastic spring sports season. With sports back on the docket, Brookline still can make it three state titles in a row in 2021 and if the Warriors continue to do what they have been doing, they have an excellent chance of ruling The Commonwealth in tennis.

Brookline raised its record to 14-0 Friday with a 4-1 home win over Newton North (10-4) in the Bay State Conference Semifinals. Next up for the two-time defending state champs is the Bay State Championship match against Wellesley at Newton North Monday afternoon.

“The weather was perfect,” said first-year Warriors coach Michael Mowatt, who took over the program this year from Nick Pero. “We are an experienced team and are building towards playing well on Monday.”

This isn't Mowatt's first foray in coaching high school tennis. He piloted successful programs at at Oliver Ames High from 1997-2007 and Xaverian Brothers High from 2007-16.

With the win, Brookline has now won 56 straight matches. The only competition the Warriors face is a friendly one among each other. Their top two players could arguably play at first singles on most teams and their third-singles player, senior captain Noah Schwartz is very formidable as well and would be at the top of most tennis ladders in the state.

Senior captain Sam Feldman played at first singles his first two years for Brookline, but lost a challenge match, 10-8, to vastly improved junior, Jayanth Devaiah in the preseason. Devaiah, who is hoping to play for an Ivy League School in 2023, started at third singles in 2019 for the Warriors.

Devaiah showed his resilience at first singles, beating Tiger senior Leo Kaluzhang, 6-2, 7-5. Kaluzhang had a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Devaiah was determined to end the match in straight sets by winning the next two games to cut the lead to one game, 5-4.

Newton North’s senior rebounded in the next game while serving with three straight points to go up, 40-love. However, Devaiah was undeterred and battled back with a vengeance by winning the next four points to make it, add-out. Kaluzhang came back to force a deuce and there three deuces before Devaiah staved off another set-point to close out the game with three straight points.

“I built off the energy of my teammates and I was able to play my game,” Devaiah said. “I went away from playing my game in the beginning of the second set, but I was able to recover.”

Devaiah then held serve to go up 6-5 and then broke Kaluzhang’s serve to clinch the match.

“My teammates believed in me the whole time and I took it one shot at a time,” Devaiah said. Aarush Admala (freshman) and Vardaan Kharbanda (senior) lost 6-2, 5-7, 7-10 and Anders St. Clair (junior) and Dhevin Nahata (freshman) won 6-1, 6-1.

Feldman, who will play for Brown University next year, almost bageled freshman Lochlan Seth at second singles, but he had to settle for a plate and a knife with a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

“I owe it to my good energy out there and positive attitude,” Feldman said.

Although Feldman didn’t quite achieve the bagel, the bakery was open for the southpaw Schwartz, who bageled his opponent at third singles, 6-0, 6-0.

“Lots of practice and having many good matches,” said the lefty Schwartz on the key to victory. “I work hard and I want to improve every day.”

At first doubles, senior Vardaan Kharbanda and freshman Aarush Admala lost a close match in a third set tiebreaker for Brookline, 2-6, 7-5, 10-7. Despite falling short Friday, Kharbanda has had an outstanding year in his first full season on varsity.

Kharbanda is also a two-time state champion as he was a member of the 2018 and 2019 teams in which he was very supportive of the starters. Moreover, he epitomizes how formidable the Warriors' program is. On most teams, he would have been a varsity starter by his sophomore year - possibly as a freshman. But on vaunted Brookline, he had to bide his team and boost his teammates as a very helpful backup.

Junior Anders St. Clair and freshman Dhevin Nahata delivered a win for the Warriors at second doubles, 6-1, 6-1.

Although Brookline is shooting for the Bay State Conference Monday, it has bigger goals, which is three-peating in the Division 1 State Tournament.

“I inherited a very good team with great leadership,” Mowatt said. “We faced many good teams, which will give us experience for the tournament.”

Feldman and Schwartz would like to cap their scholastic careers with a third state title. They are confident that they will head to college as state champions.

“We are a great group of guys and we’re talented,” Feldman said.

Schwartz said, “We had some close calls with 3-2 wins but were able to pull through. “I hope we can win our third straight state title this year.”