Chao ‘returns’ in style
Needham star collects singles title
There was redemption dripping all over Newton North High School along with sweat from the 90-degree heat in the boys tennis individual and doubles South sectional finals.
Kevin Chao of Needham returned from a one-year hiatus to prove he hasn’t lost a step in a 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 win over fellow senior Alex Novins of Wellesley yesterday. Chao left the team in 2017 to focus on his college résumé moving into his senior season but other than the heat, he showed zero rust capturing his first-ever individual title.
“It came down to focus. I did get a little nervous during the big points but I felt I kept my composure and that was the difference in the end,” said Chao.
Two major moments in the match were the first-set tiebreaker and a deuce battle in the second set. Chao trailed 5-6 in the first set but broke Novins’ serve to move to the tiebreaker.
Chao prevailed in the end as Novins’ serve continued to falter in the second set. Novins fell behind 2-0 in the second but battled to deuce to try and break Chao.
They exchanged points six times before Chao finally rushed the net for one of the only times in the entire match and rifle a winner down the baseline to go up 3-0 and take the wind out of Novins.
Novins advanced to the south semifinals the last two seasons and finally reached the finals here, only to be turned away by the top-seeded Chao.
“This (match) is where (Novins) had (Chao) in the most trouble but in the tiebreaker and the big points early in the second set, Kevin was better mentally,” Wellesley coach Mike Sabin said. “This one is tough.”
In doubles, Brookline head coach Nick Pero could sit back and relax as he watched his No. 1 and No. 2 doubles team face off for the sectional title.
Pero’s second tandem of Ben Moolman and Kei Ogawa surprised their classmates Nate Comerchero and Aaron Fleishman 6-3, 6-3 to capture the crown in quick order.
Moolman, a sophomore, was in the doubles South final last season and served a match point but couldn’t finish the win. Appropriately, it was Moolman’s booming serve that was the difference this time. He and Ogawa advance to the state final at St. John’s Shrewsbury on June 16.
“Ben was determined this year to finish it even against his own teammates,” said Pero. “We are so deep I just threw two together and two together and they had a challenge match and the winner was ‘one dubs’ and the loser ‘two dubs.’ We have such a deep team this year.”
Girls
Maggie Dorr was not about to settle for being second-best once again.
The Concord-Carlisle senior put on an impressive power display in defeating Acton-Boxboro freshman Ashleigh Parlman, 6-3, 6-1, to capture the North individual singles title at Lexington, Dorr advances to the state semifinals on June 16 at St. John’s Shrewsbury against the West winner.
“It felt really good to win,” Dorr said. “I got to this match two years and lost (to Burlington’s Ada Wiggins in three sets), so to come back here and win it was good.”
Parlman matched powerful strokes with Dorr for the better part of four games, but when Dorr broke in the fifth game, the momentum shifted for good. Dorr went on to win 10 of the final 12 games, holding serve each time.
“I got a lot of momentum there,” Dorr said. “I got the confidence and went on from there. My serve was definitely a big part of my game, it kept me going.”
The victory capped off a dominant run for the Tufts-bound Dorr. The top seed swept through four matches without losing a set.
“Coming into this, I did feel a little bit of pressure,” Dorr said. “But I kept reminding myself to just go out here and have fun and that’s what I did.”
The Newton South doubles team of Claire Lee and Zoe Golub also had plenty of fun. The duo ran its record to 16-1 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Andover’s duo of Annette Kim and Caroline Young.
“We’ve worked very hard with the doubles teams,” said Newton South coach Bob Jampol. “These girls went out there and dominated. Claire just unloads and Zoe is just so smart out there.”
Lee and Golub played errorfree tennis in winning nine of the match’s first 10 games. Golub felt the experience of competing in the always-tough Dual County League paid dividends.
“We face a lot of strong teams,” Golub said. “Because of those matches, we were able to go out there and stay focused.”