NEWTON – A rematch of the 2022 Division 1 girls tennis state championship is officially on for 2023.
Defending champion Lexington defeated top-seeded Boston Latin 3-2 to clinch a chance at a repeat, while runner-up Lincoln-Sudbury topped second-seeded Acton-Boxboro 4-1 to earn a shot at redemption.
A big difference between this season and last is where the teams were in the power rankings. The Warriors and Minutewomen entered the final last season as the top two seeds, respectively. This year they were third and fifth. Warriors coach Jason Walsh said that helped his squad have some extra motivation.
“It’s kind of exciting because we are not the top two teams,” Walsh said. “I like the bracket busters that happen in these tournaments.”
Both teams needed to flip a loss from the regular season to reach this point, and for Lexington, the focus was on doubles play. In the team’s 3-2 loss to Wolfpack on May 24, they won first and second doubles, but lost the remaining matches. Head coach Chance Fector said her team was less intimidated by Boston Latin this time and played every game tough.
“All the positions were competitive,” Fector said. “We had a chance in all the position, it was kind of just a question of who plays better that day?”
The key flip came in second doubles, where Lexington earned a clutch third-set victory to clinch the semifinal victory. The Minutewomen earned a 6-4 victory in the opening set, but the score flipped in set two. That’s when Fector said the duo of Aashra Sahani and Sally Choi took a step back and recalibrated.
“It’s a clean slate, like that didn’t happen,” Fector said. “Bring the energy that you had in the first set and identify what you did well in that said and do that now.”
They were able to get it done by a 6-4 margin once again, and both reflected on how the team aspect of high school tennis served as extra motivation.
“In our third set we remembered that we were doing it for our team,” Sahani said. “We have to pull it together, just because one of us wins, doesn’t mean the entire team wins, so we had to get it done.”
“The first match against Boston Latin reminded us of that,” Choi said. “We pulled it together this match and it worked out.”
For the Warriors, the second singles match was the clinching game, and it was a grind. Lia Swire won the first set 6-3, but the deciding set went to a tiebreak. After some back and forth, she sealed the victory and clinched the victory.
“It’s better to play your shots and lose than play your weaknesses and try to win,” Swire said. “You have to leave it all out on the court.”