Sports

Wellesley Raider Tennis Duo Best in State

Peters and Robertson win state doubles final Saturday.

Wellesley High's Gordon Peters and Alex Robertson won the state doubles championship Saturday at Clark University.

Or is it, Robertson and Peters won the title.

It's hard to put one guy's name in front of the other, as they equally carried the load throughout their undefeated season. Either way, the duo came back, after dropping the first set 2-6, to beat Concord Carlisle seniors Hayden Callahan and Alec Ahee, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, for the state crown.

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"The main adjustment we made after the first set was to start throwing up more lobs because they were really crashing the net," Peters said. "That's how they were beating us in the first set. We would try and play a normal groundstroke in, and they would take it away from us at the net."

A pure doubles player, Peters, a senior who also won the state title last year with then senior Mitchell Henry, was a wall at the net, hitting a number of volley winners. The junior, Robertson, whose game converts well to singles, is more of an all-around player, relying heavily on his groundstrokes.

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With a 5-2 lead in the third set, Wellesley stumbled, dropping three consecutive games. However, that's when Peters' veteran leadership kicked-in, according to coach Mike Sabin, and up 6-5 the team converted on its first match point with a Robertson serve.

"I think [Peters'] experience last year helped him," he said. "Last year, he leaned on [Henry] a little bit to get through some tough times during matches, and this year, certainly [Robertson] has held up his end, but [Peters] was the one who kept [Robertson] on an even keel. He was the leader on the court a lot of the time."

Peters said he and Robertson communicate between every point.

"After every point, win or lose, it's just a given we'll high five or talk to each other," he said. "Even if our tennis is going terribly, our mental side of it is still going strong, and that definitely helps us turn our tennis around."

Earlier in the day, the twosome beat West champions Jeremy Barr and Steven Brunner of Longmeadow in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, in the semi-finals. Concord Carlisle won its match against St. John's of Shrewsbury's Jack O'Day and Lucas Tata, 6-4, 6-1, to advance.

Peters and Robertson beat the St. John's pair Thursday in three sets during the Division 1 state team championships, which Wellesley (26-0) won 5-0 at Shrewsbury High School.

In singles play, Concord Carlisle junior Alex Steinroder won the state title, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1, over Needham sophomore Aaron Revzin. Steinroder also beat Revzin in last year's final.


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