CAMBRIDGE – After Wellesley’s four girls tennis captains raised the Division 1 state championship trophy, Raiders coach Rob Miller instructed them to hand it over to next year’s captains.
The group won’t change much.
The No. 4 seed Raiders took down No. 2 Boston Latin 4-1 on Saturday at MIT to claim their first state title since 2016. Their lineup featured one junior, three sophomores and three freshmen.
“Nobody’s leaving next year, so we can try and do it all again,” Wellesley junior Sarah Mackey said.
She led a singles charge for the Raiders (20-1) by beating Rachel Lantman 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.
“I was trying to keep one extra ball because she was getting everything back,” Mackey said. “Getting one extra shot was going to be the key to allowing me to win.”
Freshman earned Wellesley’s points at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Bella Gopen Handled Halina Nguyen 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1, while Kimmy Tai prevailed 6-4, 6-2 against Vannessa Vu.
“We have no weaknesses,” Miller said. “Every match when they play us, other teams know they’ve got to battle at every position. We’re really strong at every position.”
Those three wins clinched the title, then Wellesley needed to wait to celebrate.
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“We were excited because we won, but obviously we’ve still got to focus in. We don’t want to just throw away the last two doubles,” Mackey said. “We definitely still want to get them.”
Boston Latin’s Lillian Nguyen and Gisele Ngo eaned a point 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 over Shea and Shannon Welburn at No. 1 doubles.
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Wellesley ended the match on a high note when its No. 2 team of Mia Chung and Sari Hart took down Maya Nguyen and iris Tian 6-7, 6-0, 10-6.
“It was a challenge. We had to play good tennis when we needed to,” Miller said. “Every match someone would step up, and that’s what the team is al about.”
Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Wellesley girls tennis beats Boston Latin for D1 state championship
