DANVERS — For a third straight year, the top-ranked Lynnfield boys tennis team was playing for a state championship.
The Pioneers punched their ticket to Saturday’s Division 4 championship final – which they lost – with a 3-2 win over No. 4 Hamilton-Wenham June 11 at St. John’s Prep.
Matt Reinold and Kurt Rothermund were the men of the hour, securing the match-winning point with a tense 7-6, 7-6 (7-1) win at second doubles.
Leading 6-5, Reinold/Rothermund had five match points to close out the match, but some great shot-making on the part of opponents Jaden Wang and Alex Boardman kept the match alive to force a tie-breaker. But the Pioneer dug refused to be denied.
Reinhold credited Rothermund for keeping the duo’s eye on the prize.
“After being in so many deuce points in that game, Kurt pulled me over and said ‘We just have to win this.’ Our mentality switched,” Reinold said. “We knew we had to focus on continuing to hit steady. I think we were a little anxious in the deuces as it’s very nerve-wracking. We stayed calm and just focused on doing what we do.”
“The first set was really close. They are a really strong team, so that was good. In the second set, we fell behind a bit, but preserved and had many match points, but even though we didn’t make it on those points, we gave it everything we had,” Rothermund said. “We got a nice lead in the tie breaker and were able to close it out.”
Hamilton-Wenham got on the board first, with Rory Talyor defeating Shlok Kudrimoti 6-1, 6-1 at third singles to put the Generals on top, 1-0.
Shea McCarthy leveled the match at 1-1 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Keenan Maguire in the second singles match.
With Dan Levin up a set (6-1) and firmly in charge of the first singles match against Elois Chadel, all eyes turned to the two doubles matches. The first doubles team of Brendan Sokop and Russell Kasdon were down a set, having dropped the first set to Max Clarke and Henry Stinson, 3-6. Reinold/Rothermund were up a set, having taken the first set over Jaden Wang and Alex Boardman, 7-5.
As Sokop/Kasdon pulled even with a 6-4 set in set No. 2, Reinold/Rothermund were in a real battle. After Levin closed out his match with a 6-1 second set to make it 2-1, the Pioneers needed to win one of the doubles matches to clinch a spot in the state final. Sokop/Russell were still alive after taking the second set 6-4 to tie their match at 1-1. Officials paused the start of the third set pending the result of the second doubles match. They didn’t have to wait long as Reinhold/Rothermund left nothing to chance in the tie breaker, capitalizing on three straight Generals’ errors to jump out to a 5-1 lead. After a cross-court winner by Reinold, Rothermund closed out the match with another winner.
Rothermund said he was totally unaware of what was going on in the singles matches, but he sensed the match was coming down to his.
“I really had no idea but with all the attention on our match, I knew we had the chance to close it out and I’m just glad that we did,” he said.
The Pioneers have fallen at love at the hands of Weston the last two years, which has won six straight state titles and moved up to Division 3 in 2024. The last five years the tournament has been played, the Pioneers’ season has come to an end at the hands of Weston.
Rothermund believed the third time would have been the charm.
“We have to keep doing everything we’ve been doing all year. Our team is so strong and we truly believe we can make it. This is looking very bright and we have a good chance,” he said.
Reinold and Sokop already have one state title in the bank as members of the Pioneers’ boys soccer team. Reinold said there was much work to be done before taking the court at MIT’s duPont Tennis Complex Saturday against league rival Manchester-Essex.
“We’re ready. We need to train all week. We have to be locked in for this next match and put everything else behind us,” he said. “Now we just have to look forward. We felt we played pretty well, but there is room to improve.”
