Needing to plug four new starters into its lineup in the difficult Bay State Conference, the Walpole High boys tennis team was expecting to have to claw for every win to extend their streak of postseason appearances.
With yesterday’s 4-1 non-league win over Millis, Walpole improved to 10-5 on the season and secured its fifth straight tournament berth.
“In my eight years I’ve never been more pleased than I am right now,” said Walpole coach Sean Gough. “Our goal was to make the tournament and we felt like it was somewhat realistic, but they have far exceeded all of my expectations.”
The Rebels were led by dominant doubles performances as Tim Bergen and Mike Flaherty dropped just two games at No. 1 while Adma Riegel and Billy Heanue were even tougher, surrender just one at the second spot.
Zach Hagopian was a 7-5, 6-1 winner at second singles while Chris Johnson bumped up to singles for a 6-0, 6-4 at No. 3. Dean Cohn nearly made it a clean sweep at No. 1 but a pair of tiebreaker losses denied him in a three-set defeat.
The Wolverines picked up their third win in the last two days to move to 11-3 on the year.
Westwood took all its points in decisive manner as Christian Heaney-Secord (6-2, 6-1) at No. 1 and Ron Law (6-4, 6-1) at No. 3 earned singles wins and Dan O’Connor and Corey DelloRusso took their first doubles match, 6-3, 6-1.
Tony Xia and Matt Koban nearly pulled out their first varsity match, splitting sets at second doubles before succumbing in a tiebreaker. Westwood retired in the second set at second singles.
A tough task for the Marauders got even tougher with No. 1 Matt Carney out with shoulder injury as Dedham was blanked by the Carey Division leaders to fall to 3-13. Matt Fay fared best for the Marauders, taking four games at third singles.
Hindered by the absence of first doubles standout Belle Cushing due to AP exams, the Wolverines were edged by the Mustangs to split the season series and fall to 9-5 on the season.
Allison Lim at second singles (7-5, 7-5) and Sarah Chen and Kelley Steeves at second doubles (6-3. 6-3) were straight sets winners for Westwood. But Kristina Ortloff and Rebecca Morgan dropped a close decision at first double for the deciding point.
The Tigers knocked the Marauders back down to the .500 mark at 8-8. Caitie Callahan did not drop a game in a first singles win while Kayla Cammarata and Annie Tannous came from a set down to win the day’s only three-setter at doubles, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4.
The two-time defending Division 1 state champion Green Dragons showed why it is considered the favorite for the tournament once again, defeating Xaverian 13-7 in a rematch of last year’s title game
“They found a lot of open looks in the crease with good ball movement and getting shots from close range,” said Xaverian coach Tim Gardner.
Brendan Grant and Joe Gumaer each scored twice for the Hawks (13-4). The Green Dragons led 6-2 at halftime and controlled the game throughout.
Kevin Carabia scored a hat trick to lead the Marauders offense, but visiting Milton ran out to the win.
Alec Abrahamson accounted for the other two Dedham goals while Chris Dempsey made 17 saves in the cage. Dan Dwan and Ed Campbell each had strong games in the midfield.
The Marauders kept the game close for much of the first half, including having it tied at 2-2 around the midway point, but fell to host Milton yesterday.
Meg Healey, Michelle O’Connor, Jenny Boudrow and Nicole Savi scored for Dedham (0-13).
Jackie Collins made 21 saves to keep the Marauders in the contest as long as possible.
The defensive trio of Suzanna White, Jessica Hasenfuss and Cara Corcoran played well as Dedham forced numerous turnovers.
The Hawks closed out their Western Alliance season at 6-2 by winning in four games (22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22) over the host Warriors.
Ted Amendola paced Xaverian (10-7, 6-2) with 24 kills and nine blocks.
“Everyone played well, and we really owned the net,” said Xaverian coach Steve Dacey.
Andrew Bromstedt had four kills and two assists to go along with 35 assists. Brian Consoles played a strong game in the back row, finishing with 11 digs.
The Hawks close out the regular season on Monday hosting Brockton.
The Mustangs surrendered a 2-0 lead in falling to the Rockets (24-26, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 15-10) to drop to 5-12 with one match game remaining at Natick today.
“We started playing sloppy,” said Norwood coach Tim Linehan. “We were playing pretty clean the first two games then we started making unforced errors.”
Matt Clifford pounded out 16 kills for Norwood while Chris Driscoll had 35 assists from his setter spot.
