A chance for both an unbeaten season and a second straight Division 1 state championship is now officially one match away for the St. John’s Prep tennis team.
The top seeded Eagles got a gritty three-set win at first doubles from Boris Kouzminov and Luke Prokopis to help take down Concord-Carlisle, 3-1, on the courts at Newton North High School Monday.
Prokopis, a senior, and Kouzminov, a junior from Beverly, won their first set against C-C’s Dan Lynch and T.J. Fahey, 6-3, only to drop the second set by the same score. But the Prep duo responded well, rebounding for a strong 6-2 to clinch the match for their top seeded squad.
In doing so, St. John’s Prep (now 21-0) is back in the finals for a second straight season. They’ll square off against the No. 6 seed, Lexington (23-1), which won Monday’s other semifinal at Newton North with a similar rain-shortened 3-1 triumph over Acton-Boxborough.
The state championship will be held Saturday, likely on the courts at MIT in Cambridge (time TBA).
Now winners of 43 straight matches dating back to the start of the 2024 season, the Eagles won Monday’s match by the exact same score they used to defeat Concord-Carlisle in last year’s Division 1 state final.
After the fifth-seeded Patriots (14-4) took their only match of the day at second doubles, 6-2, 6-2, the Prep responded quickly. Luke Free ran his season record to 20-0 at third singles with a straight set victory, 6-3, 6-1, over Charlie Derkazarian to even things up.
First singles player Rudr Malayya, a junior, then gave the Eagles a lead they would never relinquish. He took prevailed in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, over Concord-Carlisle senior Ben Ostrovsky.
The first doubles victory by Prokopis and Kouzminov then clinched the match.
Senior Jack Prokopis, St. John’s Prep’s No. 2 singles player (and Luke’s twin brother), was in the third set of his match with Concord-Carlisle’s Pedro Nachbin (4-6, 6-3) when the rains came. With the Eagles already having clinched the victory, there was no need to finish at second singles.
Under long-time head coach Mark Metropolis, St. John’s Prep has captured state titles in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001 and last June. They’ve also won 31 Catholic Conference titles (including this spring) and gone a combined 559-118 (an amazing .826 winning percentage).