DANVERS — It’s hard to sum up the entire state of a program with one quote.
But standing next to the bus in the parking lot adjacent to the tennis courts at St. John’s Prep, both Hank Weisberg and Beck Andeliunas tried their best and kind of nailed it. The two seniors had unfortunately just seen their high school careers come to an end, as their No. 3-seeded Newburyport team fell against No. 2 Wayland in Wednesday’s Division 3 semifinal, 4-1.
In gathering some perspective, though, Weisberg dropped this gem.
“When you get a taste of winning, it’s hard to stop.”
And, man … if that doesn’t perfectly describe this program.
Remember, Newburyport was still a co-op team with CAL neighbor Triton at the beginning of the 2020s. But over the past five years now, the Clippers have ascended into both a CAL and statewide contender — and have won back-to-back CAL Kinney titles for what might be the first time ever. Back when Andeliunas was a freshman (Weisberg transferred in before last year), the Clippers were the first team out of the Division 3 playoff field after finishing at No. 33 in the final power rankings.
But here is what the program has done since.
2024: 11-8 record, advanced to D3 Round of 16.
2025: 16-2 record, advanced to D3 quarterfinals.
2026: 15-4 record, advanced to D3 Final Four.
And this was believed to be the program’s first ever trip to a state semifinal.
“Immensely proud,” said Newburyport co-coach Geoff Dawe. “Like I just told one of the parents, it’s a better group of kids than they are tennis players, so that’s the fun of it. It was a really good battle out there. (Wayland) is a legit team, and they have a legit shot against Weston. We’ll take this, and we’ll try to improve for next year.”
Which, speaking of next year … there’s been a clear trend.
–The Round of 16 two years ago.
–The quarterfinals last year.
–And now the semifinals this year.
It seems like there’s only one place left to go.
“We had an amazing squad last year, and this year we really didn’t expect to get nearly this far,” said Andreliunas. “But our teammates have been way more passionate than I’ve ever seen before, and I’m just so proud of them and excited to watch them next year.
“I’m 100% sure they’re going to make it farther.”
Newburyport will certainly have the talent to.
Both Andreliunas at No. 3 singles and Weisberg at No. 2 doubles will be huge losses, for sure. But the Clippers should be in line to return the remaining five members of their starting lineup. That includes juniors Ronan Refour (No. 1 singles) and Lucas Palen (No. 1 doubles), sophomores Parker Iversen (No. 1 doubles) and Hunter McCormick (No. 2 doubles), and freshman Yaman Kilic (No. 2 singles).
Plus, there’s reportedly a talented crop of 8th-graders coming up.
“For the seniors, just the leadership that they brought in getting us to this point was incredible,” said fellow co-coach Chris DiFranco. “To then the younger guys, getting a taste of the success and wanting more for next year, those are the main takeaways.”
But on a blistering Wednesday, the Clippers just came up a little short.
Wayland (10-7) sort of wasted no time, winning at No. 1 doubles in a blink (6-0, 6-1) before adding subsequent straight-set victories at No. 3 singles (6-2, 6-3) and No. 2 doubles (6-2, 6-3) to clinch the match. The Warriors advance to the Division 3 title game, where they’ll have to take on top-seed and state superpower Weston.
There were, however, some positives for the Clippers.
Mainly coming from Refour at No. 1 singles. The junior trailed 5-2 in the first set, but came back to earn two breaks and win it, 7-6 (9-7) before also winning the second set, 6-3. The Clippers were trailing in every match when Refour won that long opening set, but the overall match was far from over at that point.
“I told him to start hitting it hard,” said Dawe. “The (Wayland) kid is going to get tired, so move him around. Two (shots) to the backhand, then hit it cross-court, that will work. And he did it, and he kept doing that the whole time. Ronan is tough, and when that was happening we still had a shot. So then when he won the first set and it was even in the second set, I was like ‘You have to do this for yourself. You’re our No. 1 player, and you could be the only one to win a match here. So lets do this.’
“And he didn’t let the kid off the hook, that’s for sure.”
Then at No. 2 singles, Kilic played two competitive sets in a 5-7, 6-7 (7-9) loss. It obviously wasn’t the end result that Newburyport wanted, but this spring will still be remembered as being historic.
And the Clippers will definitely be back.
… The standard has been raised, so they have to be.
“There was more talent last year, but there was more willingness and wanting to play this year,” said Weisberg. “It was just a love for the sport, and every practice everyone came and showed out.
“It was less of a team and more of a family.”