The Acton-Boxboro girls’ tennis team rode straight-set wins in all three singles matches to come away with a 4-1 victory over Barnstable Monday in Lexington, capturing their first Division 1 EMass title since 2008.
Those three singles players were all on doubles pairings in prior seasons while the remainder of the Colonials were varsity subs just a year ago.
“We’re all surprised,’’ said Acton-Boxboro coach Mike Gardner of his team’s unexpected run. “They worked real hard in the offseason and just did the stuff that good players do to prepare well.’’
Acton-Boxboro will meet Westborough in Wednesday’s state final.
Junior Julia Larson set the table in second singles, sweeping Lauren Persson, 6-1, 6-0, to get the Colonials (18-2) off to a quick start.
Dasha Kostikina, a 6-foot-2-inch junior, improved to 20-0 on the season with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jasmine Opie in third singles, leaving A-B one win away from clinching the match.
In first singles, senior Diana Du looked as if she would cruise in her match after taking the first set from sophomore Kristen Donnelly, 6-0.
But Donnelly jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set before Du charged back and took the next five games for a 7-5 win that clinched the match.
“After the first set I feel like she really collected herself and came back ready to fight,’’ said Du of Donnelly. “It was really challenging in the second set. It’s a great feat not only for myself, but for the entire team.’’
The first doubles team of Amy Liu and Mengli Shi took the last point of the day for A-B with a 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 10-8 (tiebreaker) victory over Meghan Talerman and Katie Tynan. The Red Raiders (20-1) got their only win at second doubles, with Gabrielle Riley and Maggie Pedicini grabbing a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Division 2 North
Concord-Carlisle 3, Winchester 2 - The Patriots won all three singles matches to defeat the defending champ Sachems in Burlington and advance to the EMass final against Hopkinton.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve beaten Winchester,’’ Concord-Carlisle coach Bob Furey said. “This was a great victory and it came from an unexpected source, from our third singles player. They all did a great job today.’’
Katie Driscoll didn’t know at the time but her 6-2, 6-3 win over Olivia Davis,which followed singles wins by All-Scholastics Julia Cancio and Maddy King, would seal the win for the Patriots.
Cancio beat Karen McKeough, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 1 singles and King defeated Chloe Georgaklis, 6-0, 6-2, at second singles.
The Sachems took both doubles matches. Janie Weber and Sarah Wheeler needed a tie breaker to defeat Carly McCarthy and Bella Stone, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 (tiebreaker), and Sarah and Jessica Lee finished off Hallie McBride and Sophie Hibben, 6-4, 6-2.
“We’re looking forward to [Tuesday] against Hopkinton,’’ Furey said. “They’ve got a great team, they’ve got a great first singles player who we have played before, so we know that part of their team pretty well. We don’t have any idea about the rest of their team so it remains to be seen what happens.’’
Division 3 EMass
Bedford 3, Cohasset 2 - The Buccaneers continued their impressive run by edging the Skippers at Newton North High School. Bedford, which entered the postseason as the No. 9 seed in the North sectionals after a 9-7 regular season, will now play Bromfield Wednesday for the state championship.
“What I told them today was to just try to give it all and really focus,’’ said Bedford coach Monika Drabkova. “No matter what the outcome was going to be, we already made it pretty far, so just have fun with it.’’
Bedford’s Sarita Biswas won at second singles, 6-2, 6-2, over Emma Smith, while Hannah Mardini defeated Hannah Rawson, 6-2, 6-4, at third singles.
“Sarita is a hustler,’’ Drabkova said. “She tries to get to every ball, which we talked about because she was playing a girl who really hits the ball harder.’’
The second doubles pair of Allegra Scharff and Melissa Landman secured Bedford’s win by beating Kate Sookiasian and Meredith Spofford, 7-6, 6-2.