CAMBRIDGE — It took more than three-plus hours to decide, but, in the end, it all happened so fast. And it really couldn’t have been any closer.
The Division 4 championship match Saturday at MIT’s duPont Athletic Complex between top-seeded Lynnfield and No. 3 Manchester-Essex came down to this – with the score tied, 1-1, there were three matches left on the court embroiled in tense three-setters. The first team to somehow scratch out two points wins the spoils, in this case, a state title.
Things were looking up for the Pioneers after the first doubles team of Brendan Sokop and Raffi Arkun rallied from a one-set deficit to beat Finn Birkeland and Jack Lawler, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 and give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead.
“We just played our game,” Sokop said. “We stayed consistent, tried to keep our heads high, and not show any weakness. We were a little shaky in the first set as our nerves got to us a little bit, but the second and third sets, we were more fired up and hit the ball harder.
Arkun said the duo hit its stride in the third set.
“The points were longer and we got more comfortable and smoother,” he said. “They’re a great team, but we played very well and got the job done.”
Unfortunately, the lead turned out to be short-lived – extremely short-lived, as in about 20 seconds. No sooner had first doubles exchanged post-match handshakes at the net, Manchester-Essex’s Jan Vytopil knotted the match at 2-2 with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6 win over senior captain Russell Kasdon at third singles. Barely a second later, Lynnfield junior captain Shea McCarthy fell to Charlie Virden in the second singles match, 6-2, 5-7, 3-6 to polish off a 3-2 win for the Hornets.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” said Pioneers’ coach Joe Dunn. “They’ve worked hard all season and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids. Yes, we would have rather had a different result, but this match was about as close as it could be, honestly. We just came up a little short.”
The two teams had played each other in the regular season once, with Lynnfield coming out on top, 5-0.
But Dunn refused to take the Hornets lightly.
“That match was closer than the score would have you believe as two of the matches went to three sets,” he said. “I expected the match to be very close.”
The Generals struck first in this one with Charlie Langendorf and Alexander Breuker taking care of Kurt Rothermund and Shlok Kudrimoti in the second doubles match in straight sets, 1-6, 2-6 to put the Generals on top, 1-0.
Lynnfield senior captain Dan Levin leveled the match at 1-1, dusting off Jack Cummins in the first singles match, 6-1, 6-1 and setting the stage for what turned out to be about an hour-long battle with the three undecided matches in the spotlight.
This was the Pioneers’ third straight trip to the state final. Arkun, who will serve as a captain of next year’s team with McCarthy and Kudrimoti, believes the foundation is in place for the Pioneers to make another good run in 2025.
“We are losing some important starters, but we do have many players who will be ready to step up,” he said. “It’s all about working as hard as we can every day and putting in the time in the offseason.”
Levin said it was definitely a sad day knowing he had played his final match as a Pioneer. But there is more tennis in his future, starting this fall when he suits up for the Clark University Cougars.
“It’s been a great four years being a member of this team and the guys have all been great, so, yes, it is a sad day knowing that it’s my last high school match for Lynnfield,” he said. “But I’m excited about the fall and while I don’t know what I’ll be playing, I’m just hoping to get into the starting lineup and take it from there.”
Hornets’ coach Robert Bilsbury said that while it was still extremely early in the match, he believed the second doubles’ win was a good omen for the Hornets.
“We had lost that match when we played them before, so I definitely thought that was a really good sign that it might be our day,” he said.
Turns out, it was.
