NORTHAMPTON — When the Northampton and Longmeadow boys tennis teams met for the first time this season, the Lancers grabbed a 4-1 victory back on April 10. Three weeks ago, the two sides matched up again – this time the Blue Devils earning a 5-0 win. The rubber match just so happened to be in the Western Mass. Class A finals at Smith College on Wednesday afternoon that felt more like fall than spring.

Longmeadow prevailed 4-1 to claim the Class A crown, the second straight year Northampton fell to the Lancers in the finals. Despite the three scores looking lopsided, each match between these programs has been anything but and Wednesday was no exception.

Senior captain Reilly Fowles earned the lone victory for Northampton, breezing past Will Wartman 6-4, 6-0 to remain undefeated (19-0) on the year. At second singles, Durrell Patrick gave John Rousou everything he had, but came up short in a straight-set defeat. Eli Wool fought tooth and nail for every point at No. 3 singles against Longmeadow’s Matt Desrosiers, but fell 7-6, 7-5 in the longest singles match of the afternoon.

Oliver Levine and Reed O’Connor teamed up and were involved in Wednesday’s most thrilling matchup, playing against James Wray and Richard Li in first doubles. Levine and O’Connor lost the first set 6-3, however they came back to even the match with a 6-2 triumph in set two. They ran out of steam in the third set, losing 7-5, but they put up a valiant effort. Northampton’s Jackson Briggs-Nye and Kaz Sugihara lost 6-2, 6-2 at second doubles to round out the matches.

If just a few more points had gone the Blue Devils’ way, head coach Ben Lewis believes it was his team that could have hoisted the Class A first-place plaque.

“We went into each of these matches with Longmeadow feeling like we could win all five or lose all five,” Lewis said. “And that’s really what it means to compete. We had the capacity to win, but also know that our opponents are going to bring everything they’ve got. We had three wonderful matches with them this season, and they’re to be commended.”

While Northampton’s season isn’t over, Fowles, who is set to graduate in a couple weeks, has starred for the Blue Devils throughout his career, and especially this season. He now brings his overall game record to 228-28, and hasn’t dropped a single set in 2025.

Fowles is also the individual Western Massachusetts champion.

“Coming into this year, I knew that I could have a good run at it,” Fowles said. “I put a lot of work in over the summer, and throughout the season during practice. I’ve just tried to play my game, and play it confidently, and I feel like that’s got me through a lot of matches – especially the tougher ones. I felt like I could rely on my patterns, and it helped me mentally.”

After missing his serve throughout the majority of the first set on Wednesday, Fowles did exactly that — relied on his patterns. He went back to the well, working Wartman back and forth with precise forehands and bringing him to the net with skilled backhands. And any time Wartman got too close, Fowles would hit him with a lob shot over his head.

Everything was working as he cruised to a 6-0 triumph in set No. 2.

“Certainly nerves are a thing,” Fowles said of his first-set struggles. “This match meant a lot to me. I wasn’t really hitting my serves or hitting my spots. It was a defensive battle. And I said that to win this defensive battle, I need to play offense. So I started doing that, and going to my go-to shots. That’s what won it in the end.”

Only a handful of days ago, Fowles and Wartman as well as Levine/O’Connor and Wray/Li played against one another at the Western Mass. individual championships. Fowles handled Wartman in straight sets, while Wray and Li got the best of Levine and O’Connor via sweep.

On Wednesday, Levine and O’Connor stepped up their game and came ready to battle. Northampton’s top duo bounced back from a first-set loss to win the second and put themselves in terrific position, ahead 4-3, in the third set. But Wray and Li stormed from behind to steal the win and give Longmeadow a 4-1 victory.

“They’re juniors this year, and they’ve been together the whole time they’ve been on the team,” Lewis said of Levine and O’Connor. “They like playing singles, but they love playing doubles. The energy that they bring, it’s great for the team. It’s always a good match when Reed and Ollie play [Longemadow’s] James and Richard. Nobody can quite figure out how to separate. It’s really high-level tennis.”

Northampton continues its season into the MIAA Division 2 state tournament, which has the Blue Devils currently seeded No. 14 and in line to host a first-round match.