MEDWAY — The Wakefield High boys’ tennis team recently concluded a strong season in the Div. 3 Round of 16 against Medfield at Medway Middle School.
Wakefield, ranked No. 12 in the bracket, swept No. 21 Ashland at home in the first round before taking on No. 5 Medfield.
In a battle of Warriors, it was Medfield who prevailed on their home court by a narrow score of 3-2.
Both of Wakefield’s doubles teams came up short in straight sets but the match was still up for grabs in the three singles matchups.
Trailing 2-0 after the doubles matches wrapped up, the local Warriors made it 2-1 after a win at first singles from senior captain Luke Greif who battled through a 6-3 first set and cruised 6-1 in set number two.
Greig’s fellow senior captain Kevin DeGray evened things up with a hard-fought, 6-3, 6-2 victory making it 2-2.
With both teams and all spectators watching, senior Trevor Veilleux and Medfield’s Warren Churchill put on a show in a wild, back-and-forth match that took three hours to complete.
Veilleux won the first set 6-3 before Churchill returned the favor 6-3 in set two. While many regular season high school tennis matches shorten a third and deciding set to a 10-point tiebreaker, things are different in the state tournament as the two Warriors reset after two grueling sets to line up for another full third set. In the end, it was Churchill who got the win, 6-2, ending one of the best tournament matches in Div. 3.
“Our singles players were all awesome,” said head coach Cheryl Connors. “The boys worked very hard against tough competition. It was a great match.”
Wakefield ended their season with an overall record of 12-7. Medfield ended up falling to No. 13 Boston Latin Academy in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Bedford ended up winning the Div. 3 state championship with a 4-1 victory over No. 6 Weston in the Final.
