By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports writer

LINCOLN — Just after the top team of  Matt Fershke and Patrick Geddes completed the sweep among doubles, Cumberland High coach John Jasionowski went to the scorers’ table to record their score. Staring as his unbeaten Clippers’ 3-0 lead over neighboring rival Lincoln, Jasionowski shook his head and stated, “I’m just not comfortable.”

There was reason for his concern. Even though his squad held a nice cushion over the Lions, the Clippers were behind in three of the four singles’ matches. While the Clippers have dominated this season in doubles, losing just two matches all season, Jasionowski knew the Lions were stronger in the singles.
Lincoln proved that very fact on a beautiful Thursday afternoon.
In an important Division II-North match that could determine who’s the top seed in the upcoming state tournament, the Lions prevailed. Capped by a nail-biting, three-set win from junior Imram Puthawala at No. 3 singles, Lincoln spoiled the Clippers’ perfect season with a 4-3 triumph at the LHS courts.
With his teammate Tom MacKenty on his way to finishing off the Clippers’ Tim Luz in three sets with a 6-0 victory at second singles, all eyes were focused on Puthawala’s match against Eric Schultheis. After winning the first set with a score of 6-3, Puthawala was blanked 0-6 in the middle set to force the deciding game.
With the weight of his team on his shoulders, he dug down deep to snare the decisive victory with a convincing 6-3 win.
“I was in a similar situation last year in the playoffs,” Puthawala said. “I just said, ‘You don’t want to lose again with a (team win) on the line. I just tried to keep my focus, and just won.”
The victory by the Lions more than likely will give Cumberland and Lincoln a share of the division title. The Clippers, who have two matches left on the league slate, fell to 13-1. With three matches remaining, the Lions upped their record to 12-1.
Since losing to the Clippers in their season-opener on April 4, the Lions have matched their rival victory-for-victory throughout the spring.
“The guys that we have at singles have been in a groove,” Lions coach Peter Prendergast said. “We lost the first match, but we have been undefeated since then. We really haven’t lost. Right now were are 12-1, but we’ve won 12 in a row. We got some guys with heart.”
Jasoinowski took a postive approach to the setback.
“Sometimes you have to take the loss now and play very good tennis,” he said. “Now the pressure is off the team to go undefeated. Now they can play and not worry about going undefeated. All they have to worry about is going to the championships. We got two more matches regular season, then we got the playoffs. We are probably going to be seeing these guys again in the playoffs.”
The Clippers, who are 40-2 in doubles this season, took a quick 2-0 lead in the match. The No. 3 doubles team of Jeff Avallone and Ben Murphy shut out the Lions’ duo of Sean McKenna and Adrian Chan with scores of 6-0, 6-0. At second doubles, Patrick Murray and Jason Agonia nearly did the same to Lincoln’s Joe Nero and Nikolay Korokov, defeating the tandem, 6-1, 6-2. Ferschke and Geddes competed the sweep by beating Nick Arnold and Colin Boisvert, 7-5, 6-2.
“The team has been counting on us. They know that doubles can pull it out,” Agonia said. “We knew we had to come out with a big win today.”
“We know our doubles teams are pretty strong, so we knew it was our responsibility to win all three matches almost every time,” added Murray. “We have really good singles, too. But we feel our strongest is our doubles.”
Lincoln began its comeback with top singles’ player Chris Corrigan disposing of the Clippers’ Alex Werchaldo with scores of 6-2, 6-1. The Lions then made it 3-2 with a gutsy performance from Eric Tirrell at No. 4 singles. Tirrell was beat handidly in the first set by Cumberland’s Dan Spader.
After a pep talk from Prendergast, Tirell rebounded and commanded the remainder of the match by taking the final two sets with identical scores of 6-1. The talented junior is undefeated this season at singles.
“I just thought what I had to do for the team,” he said. “Basically, I just kept hitting to his backhand and kept pressing (the final two sets), and tried to stay consistent.”
Just about the time that MacKenty was putting the finishing touches on Luz with his 7-5, 2-6, 6-0 triumph, Puthawala sealed the deal with his win before his overjoyed teammates.
Prendergast also had trouble hiding his emotions.
“I’m going to go out and play the lottery tonight. I think I am going to win,” he said. “These guys proved that we can do anything. It wasn’t luck, we proved that we can do anything.”
***
Singles — Chris Corrigan, L, def. Alex Werchaldo 6-2, 6-1; Tom MacKenty, L, def. Tim Luz 7-5, 2-6, 6-0; Imram Puthawala, L, def. Eric Schultheis 6-3, 0-6, 6-3; Eric Tirrell, L, def. Dan Spader 6-1, 6-1
Doubles — Matt Ferschke-Patrick Geddes, C, def. Nick Arnold-Colin Boisvert 7-5, 6-2; Patrick Mowry-Jason Agonia, C, def. Joe Nero-Nikolay Korokov 6-1, 6-2; Jeff Avallone-Ben Murphy, C, def. Sean McKenna-Adrian Chen6-0, 6-0.