CAMBRIDGE – Brookline’s Jayanth Devaiah had just won an intense match. He let out a yell and pumped his fist.
Three courts away, however, Chris Ristaino and Curtis Judson were calmly putting their rackets away – the championship was in the bag.
Acton-Boxborough fended off a spitting rain, a biting wind and a talented opponent Saturday evening to win the Division 1 state boys tennis championship, halting Brookline’s 82-match winning streak.
The Warriors had won the past three titles, their last loss coming in the South sectional semifinals to Newton North in 2017. The championship is AB’s first since the school changed its nickname to Revolution last month.
The tennis program last won states in 2017, a 4-1 defeat of Westborough in Shrewsbury.
On Saturday, after juniors Ryan Zhang (6-1, 6-0) and Kayvon Touserkani (6-3, 6-3) finished off their singles wins at Nos. 2 and 3 respectively, Dylan Fayerman was locked in a tough assignment against Devaiah, who is headed to Notre Dame to play tennis.
Devaiah, wearing a white “ND” hat, led 3-0 in each set before Fayerman battled back. The Revolution freshman eventually fell 6-4, 6-4 while Ristaino and Judson were securing the title, winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
Despite a loss at second doubles – the final match – a stream of blue T-shirts ran onto the duPont Tennis Courts at MIT to envelop Kabir Moghe and Rishi Dasari in a jumping embrace.
“It feels incredible. It’s a great feeling,” Ristaino said while the team posed for pictures and signed a commemorative tennis ball amid the blustery evening. “It was tough conditions, but we played through it and that’s all that matters and we got the win.”
“It feels pretty good to be a state champion,” Judson said after hoisting the trophy during the banner presentation.
“These are tough conditions,” AB coach Kevin Curley said. “We told everybody to just play within their range, don’t go for too much, be super disciplined – and it paid off.”
Brookline will graduate just three seniors – Teo Dimov, Anderson St. Clair and Devaiah – and should be strong for years to come.
For AB, the team defeated all three of the other state champions (Concord-Carlisle in D2; Wayland in D3; and Weston in D4) during the spring.
“We put a lot of preparation into this season,” Curley said. “We knew coming into (Saturday) that Brookline is a three-time returning champ, so we knew it was going to be a tough match for us.”
AB will lose just one senior – Moghe. Another meeting with Brookline at this stage next year is not out of the question.
But 2023 can wait.
“There is no better way,” Curley said, “to end the season.”
Follow Tim Dumas on Twitter: @TimDumas.
