CAMBRIDGE – Not solely did the Lexington women tennis crew win their second consecutive state tennis title, nevertheless the boys crew moreover put the which means of “clear sweep” to leisure as successfully.
Lexington (25-0) accomplished off an unbelievable unblemished run to the finals with a 5-0 shutout over Division 1 juggernaut Brookline moments after the ladies picked up their state title on the equivalent duPont Tennis Courts on the campus of MIT.
The Warriors (23-1) have been moreover unbeaten coming into the competitors and have been winners of three of the ultimate 4 state titles, solely dropping to Acton-Boxboro in 2022 with no recorded winner in 2020 via the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joel McCandless was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Deven Devaiah in No. 1 singles play, whereas Arindam Bagga made easy work of Peter Khudyakov, 6-3, 6-3. Nevertheless it was No. 2 Rudr Malayya who held courtroom in a 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 thriller over Dhevin Nahata to help Lexington seize their first state tennis title since 2014.
In doubles, Aahan Mehra and Rohan Reddy have been victorious in a 7-5, 6-3 straight set win over Ravin Bhatia and Kiran Bhatia whereas Naveen Kothandaraman and Gavin Ohler sweated out a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over Owen Eskey and Jacob Kapusta to complete the startling five-match rout.
“Not anticipated, under no circumstances. Anticipated 3-2 in some way, a dogfight. Our workforce had extra seniors, possibly the expertise pulled them via – couldn’t inform you – we knew some positions we had an opportunity of profitable and others we had an opportunity of shedding however to see the result that occurred? I don’t know the place that got here from,” talked about Lexington head coach, Chris Pugalise. “(Malayya) is our solely freshman and he was form of an enormous a part of this. I knew (Malayya) was going to start out however I couldn’t inform you the place however he battled for his place.”
The rest of the starters have been seniors this magical season for Pugalise and none additional explicit than McCandless, who’s headed to Rhode Island Faculty inside the fall to play for the Anchormen.
The Warriors had overwhelmed the Minutemen in each the North Sectionals or the State bracket the earlier three tries and in actuality, McCandless was having fun with for additional than merely himself in his match. The “Brookline downside” as Pugalise jokingly referred to the Warriors was a stickler for pretty some time for McCandless and his family.
His sister, Kyra, already picked up her private state title belt with their victory moments sooner than over Lincoln-Sudbury, nevertheless McCandless pointed to the family lineage, notably his brother Kyle, who’s at current having fun with tennis at Cal Tech, as motivation to pull down the state chip.
“I used to be taking part in for lots of people at present. My father (Michael) and my grandfather (Victor Zue) got here out on Father’s Day to look at me play. My brother, for a number of years and the toughest employee I’ve ever seen, didn’t get a shot at a state championship so I used to be taking part in for him to take one residence,” talked about McCandless as his brother preceded him and the one yr they may have crossed paths was erased inside the pandemic season. “One in all us has been on the workforce for the previous seven years with one because the COVID yr and would have been our cross-over yr. So that is huge for us and I actually really feel this can be a win for the each of us.”
