Mount Greylock Boys Tennis Repeats as Western Mass Champ
LEE, Mass. -- As Jacob Fink battled through the second set of his No. 2 singles match at Friday’s Western Mass tournament final, he could see his friends leaving the court.
And they were smiling.
And he knew what that meant.
After cruising to a 6-0 win in his first set, Fink had a chance to put away the team contest against Belchertown and claim the Mounties’ second straight sectional crown.
“I don’t know about extra pressure,” Fink said. “But I definitely figured out what was going on. I knew if I won it would be clinching.”
That is because on the adjacent court, Gray Kaegi put away a 6-2, 6-1 win at first singles. And across the way, Sam Dils and Benni McComish put the finishing touches on a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles.
That meant Fink was able to give Mount Greylock the third point it needed.
“Maybe I lost focus a little, thinking about the finish line,” Fink said. “Although we’re trained to think point to point. I may have gotten a little caught up in the moment.”
If he did, he caught himself and closed out a 6-0, 7-5 win that gave Mount Greylock the point it needed to go back to Monday’s Division 3 state semifinals.
Matt Wiseman and Brady Foehl won their first doubles match, 6-2, 6-3, in short order, and only Belchertown’s Jon Vinagre got between the Mounties and a sweep. He edged Mount Greylock’s Josh Narey, 5-7, 7-5, 10-7 (super tiebreaker) to make it a 4-1 final score.
Mount Greylock moves on to meet Whitinsville Christian on Monday afternoon at St. John’s in Shrewsbury for a berth in the state championship match. Last year, Whitinsville Christian edged Mount Greylock, 3-2, before falling in the state final.
The Mounties were a little low key when Friday’s match came to an end. But that may have been more because the team battle was over -- and the won had sunk in -- long before the final match got off the court.
“It’s exciting getting it, especially since we got it last year,” Kaegi said. “It’s the first time in a while, to my knowledge, we’ve won back-to-back seasons. We’ve won three out of the last four, which is exciting.
“There’s no jumping around and confetti, but that’s OK. I think we’re all happy. This is our goal from the start of the season. You know, it’s funny. We started our season here (at Lee), and I love playing here. It’s awesome that we get to finish the Western Mass portion here.”
And Kaegi had the added bonus Friday of finishing his work long before anyone else.
“This is the first time all year I’ve finished first,” he said. “Normally, I’m the last one off. I’ve played a lot of long matches this year.
“It’s awesome getting to watch these guys play. I don’t usually get an opportunity to watch them all these guys hit. And I’m blown away by how well they’re playing. This is one of the deepest teams we’ve had.
“Anybody on the team can rally with another person and hold a good rally with them. It’s not like certain people blow out other people. It’s strong games we play.”