THE No. 3 LHS boys’ tennis team beat Rockport in the Round of 16 and Bromfield School in the quarterfinals to set up a Div. 4 state semifinal match against No. 2 Cohasset on Tuesday after press time. The winner will travel to the DuPont Tennis Courts at MIT for the State Finals against the winner of Weston vs. Hamilton-Wenham. (LHS Athletics Photo)

 

 

Updates post publication:

Lynnfield advances to Div. 4 State Finals, defeating Cohasset 3-2 (June 13)

#3 Lynnfield falls to #1 Weston in State Finals 5-0 at Dupont Tennis Courts, MIT on Sunday, June 18

 

 

Published June 14, 2023

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — Last Thursday afternoon, the Lynnfield High boys’ tennis team beat the Bromfield School, 5-0, at Lynnfield Middle School in the MIAA Division 4 state tournament Round of 8 match.

With that win, the 3rd-seeded Pioneers improved to 18-1 as they won their 18th-straight match.

The 11th-seeded  Bromfield, which is located out in Harvard, ended the year at 13-8.

“I was surprised how we beat them,” admitted Pioneers head coach Joe Dunn. “They have some solid players but we were able to play at a higher level.”

At first singles, Dan Levin won, 6-2, 6-0, over Tim Khuu while Shea McCarthy also won, 6-0, 6-3, against Thaman Surya at second singles.

Sklok Kudrimoti defeated Aadi Ravindran at third singles, 6-2, 6-0.

In doubles action, the first team of Russell Kasdon and Rafik Khodr won, 7-5, 6-0, over Sawyer Madison and Conall Munoz. The second team of Sahil Akhter and Brendan Sokop also won in straight sets as they defeated Albert Chen and Andrew Mirarchi, They won the first set 6-4 and then Bromfield retired in the second set as the match was already decided. .

On June 6, the Pioneers beat visiting Rockport, 4-1, in the Round of 16 match.

The 19th-seeded Vikings, who the Pioneers beat, 5-0, back on April 24 in the regular-season meeting, ended up at 8-10.

“They were missing their number-one singles player (Ed Merz) when we played them the first time,” pointed out Dunn. “They were a little tougher with him back.”

Levin beat Merz, 6-4, 6-1, at first singles while McCarthy took care of Alex Norris, 6-4, 6-1, at second singles.

Kudrimoti lost to Cash Eck, with matching, 6-4, scores at third singles.

Kasdon and Khodr defeated Finn Mulkern and Simon Dickson, 6-0, 6-2, at first doubles while Akhter and Sokop won in shutout fashion, 6-0, 6-0, over Erik Drost and Lucca DeBenedicis at second doubles.

The Pioneers faced Cohasset in the state semifinals on June 13 (results not available at press time).

If Lynnfield won that match, they would go to MIT in Cambridge for the state championship match to take on the winner of the Weston-Hamilton Wenham match on June 17 (time unknown as of press time).

Last year, the Pioneers lost to Weston in the title match.