CAMBRIDGE — It was worth the wait.
A near two,-hour delay thanks to long matches in Saturday’s previous state finals couldn’t deter the St. John’s Prep tennis team as they took the court for the Division 1 championship match. Neither could the weight of breaking their program’s 23-year title drought, nor their burning desire to finish a job they felt they started last season.
Fittingly, Jack Prokopis authored the championship point to clinch what was eventually a 4-1 win over Concord-Carlisle in front of a packed house at MIT’s DuPont Tennis Courts. The junior from Lynnfield has been around the Eagles’ tennis program for many years, starting by supporting older brother Mikey (Class of 2018) and sharing the lineup with twin brother Luke (who plays first doubles).
“Our family’s been fantasizing about this for years now,” said Jack Prokopis, who was joined by the family dog Vinny in the celebratory post-match huddle. “From the time I started at St. John’s Middle School, all I wanted to do was get to high school and play tennis. Freshman year we made the quarters, then the semis last year and this year we finally did it.”
The top-ranked Eagles completed a perfect season by going 22-0 to win the school’s sixth all-time tennis title. It’s the fifth under veteran head coach Mark Metropolis, whose Eagles last won it all in 2001 and last finished undefeated as state champs in 1995.
“This was a determined bunch,” said Metropolis. “When we lost in the semis last year, they got on the bus with the attitude that they were not going to let that happen again. They worked their butts off in the offseason and to their credit, they came back this year and did it.”
No. 2 Concord-Carlisle (14-4) had battled St. John’s Prep to a 3-2 decision early in the 2024 season, one of only two times St. John’s dropped two points. With all the marbles up for grabs Saturday, the Prep’s second doubles team of seniors Mark McDuffee and Alex Melville pulled off a tone-setting 6-2, 6-2 win.
Next, at third singles, Luke Free closed out a 6-2, 6-1 triumph (winning the last game with his left sneaker untied since he broke his laces changing direction to save a volley) to put St. John’s on the precipice.
“Second dubs and Luke set the tone. We just needed to find one more point,” said Metropolis, “which we knew wouldn’t be easy because Concord-Carlisle is a great team. The first match with them went right down to the wire.”
At first singles, C-C’s Lucas Bikkesbaker (one of the state’s best players) took a 6-4, 6-1 decision from sophomore John DeAngelis to make it a 2-1 match. St. John’s Prep had won the first set of both of the matches still on the court, but Concord was threatening to force decisive (and pressure packed) third sets in both.
“I had to stick to my game,” said Jack Prokopis. “I was saying to myself, ‘Volley, serve, volley, serve’ just to ease the nerves. My opponent started serving better, so my focus was get my returns in and try to get some chips.”
After dropping his match in the regular season meeting with the Patriots, Prokopis told Metropolis he was going to deliver a win in the state final. He was true to his word, forcing a deuce in the final game and winning it for a 6-3, 6-4 decision that saw the Eagles spill onto the court to celebrate the state title.
“It was championship point number three … I knew I had it on my racquet,” said Prokopis. “I was a little nervous, but I hit it.”
Twin brother Luke and doubles partner Boris Kouzminov were then able to close out their own match, 6-3, 7-5, to make it a doubles sweep and account for the 4-1 final.
The atmosphere at MIT certainly suited St. John’s Prep, which returns all three singles players and five of its seven regulars for a bid at a repeat in 2025. There were loud cheers both on the court and from the crowd for just about every point, and the Eagles thrived off that energy.
“We’ve had a lot of big, intense matches in front of decent crowds. It’s great and it helps us a lot,” said Prokopis. “Before each match we tell each other to bring the energy … cheering each other on helps us do that.”