You know what I’ve been thinking? A lot of things can happen when student-athletes “put the time in,” as said by St. John’s Prep tennis coach Mark Metropolis, a Peabody resident.
Well, that’s exactly what his players did. The result: a 44-match winning streak (across two seasons), 22-0 record, and Division 1 state championship.
The top-ranked Eagles defeated No. 6 Lexington, 3-1, Sunday morning on MIT’s duPont Tennis Courts to capture back-to-back titles (Metropolis’ sixth).
“They’re one of the hardest-working groups I’ve had in a long time. They showed how tough and resilient they were and 22-0 isn’t an easy thing to do with the schedule we play,” Metropolis said. “When we got to the end of the season, they were ready because we played some great teams . . . It just worked out.”
Rudr Malayya won his first-singles match, while the doubles teams of Luke Prokopis/Boris Kouzminov and James de Buy Wenniger/Wade Evitts helped put a lid on Lexington.
Jack Prokopis split the first two sets of his second-singles match and was ahead, 4-1, in the third, but once the doubles team of Wenniger and Evitts clinched the championship, the match was suspended.
St. John’s Prep went 10-0 in-conference, picking up tournament wins against No. 33 Methuen, No. 17 Belmont, No. 8 Needham, and No. 5 Concord-Carlisle en route to Sunday’s victory.
Eagles, good week.
