Warriors Continue to Net Victories

By Eliot Schickler

The winning beat continues to go on for the Brookline High boys tennis team.

Top-seeded Brookline (15-0) won the Bay State Conference first-ever tournament with a 3-2 home victory over second-seeded Wellesley High (13-3) Tuesday, raising its winning streak to 57 straight matches.

“I told the team this is the reason why I coach high school tennis,” Warriors Coach Mike Mowatt said. “This was a match between two quality teams, which is something I like being a part of.”

One obstacle that Brookline faced was health. Warriors senior captain southpaw Noah Schwartz, who is normally a reliable winner at third singles, was under the weather. Mowatt wanted to rest his lefty captain, but Schwartz was determined to play, thus the coach moved him to first doubles where he partnered with fellow senior captain Vardaan Kharbanda.

“Noah wanted to play and showed he’s a gamer,” Mowatt said. “It’s good to have a flexible lineup.”

Normally, Kharbanda is paired with freshman Aarush Admala and this duo have excellent chemistry. Partnering with Schwartz, who wasn’t feeling 100 percent, made the road to victory even tougher for two of Brookline’s captains.

Although Schwartz and Kharbanda won their first set, Wellesley senior captains Will Lewis and Adnan O’Neil were too formidable and bounced back with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Getting the day started on the right track for the Warriors was senior captain Sam Feldman opening the bakery at second singles. Feldman baked and served bagels and didn’t need much to bagel sophomore Charlie Coleman, 6-0, 6-0.

“I was able to serve big and target his backhand,” Feldman said.

Junior Anders St. Clair and sophomore Jacob Kapusta delivered a point for the Warriors with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph at second doubles over junior Milan Jacobs and sophomore Andrei Samarin. This victory was huge Brookline because it lost both doubles matches to the Raiders during both regular season team matches. Mowatt was pleased that his duo delivered for him.

The clinching match for the Warriors was at first singles between junior Jayanth Devaiah and Wellesley junior lefty Charlie Harry Collomb, who won the State Singles Individual Title in 2019. Collomb dominated the first set with a 6-2 victory, but Devaiah bounced back and won the match, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.

“He [Collomb] was playing amazing in the first set and I felt at some point, he had to slow down, and I stuck to my game plan,” Devaiah said. “In the end, it worked out. I made more shots, he lost his rhythm and I was able to take over.”

Devaiah attributes his victory to improving his serve as the match progressed. In his final service game of the third set, he blazed two aces past the Raider lefty to go up, 5-0.

“My serve was pretty bad in the first half of the match,” Devaiah said. “I just stuck to my game plan and focused on the details of my serve. Once I got my first serve going, everything fell into place.”

Usually, Devaiah battles against other right handed players, thus a head to head match against the left handed Collomb was somewhat different than what he’s used to facing. Although the spin from a southpaw differs from how righties hit the ball didn’t faze Devaiah.

“This is the third time I played him this season and I also play him in USTA [United States Tennis Association] tournaments,” Devaiah said. “It’s a little different, but Charlie and I are good friends, and it’s always good to play against your friends.”

Admala replaced Schwartz at third singles and although he turned in a stellar performance, Wellesley sophomore lefty River Craciun was the better player with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 victory.

Next up for the Warriors is the Division 1 State Tournament. They are the No. 2 seed with a first round bye and will play the winner of Friday’s (June 18) match between seventh-seeded Newton North (10-4) and 10th-seeded North Attleborough (9-5) next Wednesday (June 21) in the Division 1 South quarterfinals. Brookline is aiming for its third straight Division 1 title.

“All of my players are fantastic, especially Sam and Jay, and they all get balls back and have the match experience,” Mowatt said. “It’s hard to figure out the rest of the teams, but we can compete at any level against any team. It’s a tournament and anything can happen.”

Feldman said, “”Winning States is the goal and that’s been the goal since the beginning of the season. It hasn’t changed and everything is going according to the plan.”

If the Warriors are successful in their quest to three-peat, they will end the season with 62 straight victories.

“It’s a thing of pride for us,” Feldman said. “We want to make Brookline a tennis school. We have to be known for something.”