There certainly were no surprises when the Wayland boys’ tennis team faced Weston in the Division 3 state championship on June 13 at MIT’s duPont Tennis Courts. The two Dual County League foes faced off twice during the regular season and there’s plenty of familiarity between players and coaches.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, they knew what they were up against.
Weston beat Wayland both times in DCL play this season and had lost only one match in its previous four tournament matches. While the second-seeded Warriors grabbed two points, they couldn’t get the all-important third in a 3-2 defeat.
“We knew who we were playing — we’ve practiced with them, I’m friends with [the Weston] coach, and the kids play with each other outside of the school season — so there were no surprises,” Wayland coach Shawn Powers said. “Clearly they were the better team.”
Weston also had tournament finals experience, losing in the championship last year as a sixth seed but defeating the second and third seeds along the way.
Weston took all three singles matches during both regular-season contests against Wayland, so Powers considered juggling his lineup for the state championship. In the end, he stuck with what got him there, and the results were similar. Only the first doubles pair of junior Charlie Haddad and sophomore Kiyoshi Nimi (6-4, 4-6, 7-5) and second doubles pair Arya Nagalla, a senior, and Max Zhuang, a junior (6-2, 6-1), were victorious.
“We looked at our team at the start of the season and said we could be in the finals against Weston,” Powers added. “We looked at our results against them and rearranged our lineup throughout the season to find the best way to match up against them.”
In No. 1 singles, Jeffrey Zhang dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Peter Chen. Zhang was named an all-conference player for his success throughout the season.
“Last year Jeffrey was in doubles and this year he jumped into the #1 singles role,” Powers said. “He led the team as a captain and at first singles.”
Freshman Gregory Camacho and sophomore Sawyer Getz also lost in straight sets. Camacho fell to Winston Starett 6-4, 6-3, and Getz came up on the short end of a 6-4, 6-2 score.
“The kids were OK [with the results] because they were realistic,” Powers said. “It’s hard, though, when you fight hard and you don’t win. But they left it all on the court and played well. Everyone played the best they had all season, so I couldn’t ask for any more than that.”
Wayland, the second seed, cruised into the finals, winning 5-0 against Amherst-Pelham and North Reading and a 4-1 victory in the semifinals against Falmouth. Despite the eventual results, the future looks bright — the only starters who graduated are Zhang and Nagalla.
