PAWTUCKET – Sunday afternoon brought a breakthrough for Braden Lynch, the first boys tennis state singles champion from Lincoln in 38 years. 

The sophomore was impressive throughout on the hardcourts at Slater Park, taking care of Bishop Hendricken standout Luca Testa in straight sets. 

Lynch never appeared anything but comfortable under the warm sunshine and in front of the crowd gathered outside the fence, posting a 6-3, 6-2 triumph in 75 minutes. He became the first member of the Lions to lift the trophy since Tom Evans did the honors in 1988 and just the third sophomore to claim the crown in the last two decades. 

“I’m proud to do it for my school,” Lynch said. “I’m proud to do it for myself. Proud to do it for my coaches, for my family – I’m just very proud right now.” 

David Levy and Liam Levy took even less time to become the first boys doubles champions from East Greenwich, racing to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over the La Salle tandem of Gavin Britt and Connor Cavanagh. That match wrapped up while Lynch was taking full command against Testa, using multiple breaks of serve in the second set to build what turned out to be an insurmountable lead. 

“Luca’s obviously a great player, so I knew I was going to have to play pretty much at my best if I was going to beat him,” Lynch said. “I ended up playing pretty well.  

“I thought my forehand was able to dictate, and I was very happy with how I served throughout the match. I was able to keep that in mind.”

Lynch held at love to take the opening set and closed the match with what became a familiar sequence by the end of this one. He approached the net behind a forehand down the line and put away an overhead smash to clinch it. Lynch lived up to his No. 1 seed in the process and delivered on his own expectations entering the season. 

“I definitely did think I could,” Lynch said. “That was in my mind from the start of the year – to be able to do this. It’s great to see it come to life.”

Testa needed three sets to eliminate North Kingstown’s Will Michaud in the quarterfinals before dropping just three games in his semifinal meeting with Barrington’s Gabe Anderson. Lynch traveled the more difficult path, beating South Kingstown’s Jonah Plonsky in straight sets in the quarterfinals before matching up with La Salle’s Andrew Smith in the semifinals. Lynch dropped the opening set to the defending champion before rallying to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. 

“It definitely gave me a whole bunch of confidence,” Lynch said. “He’s obviously a great player with a huge serve. He has a huge wingspan. He’s hard to pass.  

“I felt that I was able to play super well in that match, and that definitely gave me some confidence going into this one.” 

Lynch was immediately penciled in as Lincoln’s top singles player as a freshman and lost to Smith in the quarterfinals. His offseason work included time in the gym and some sessions with a mental skills coach to sharpen his focus. Lynch joined Kyle Burke (South Kingstown, 2007) and Max Schmidhauser (Classical, 2018) among recent second-year winners of this event. 

“It was a ton of work, to be honest,” Lynch said. “A lot of time on court. A lot of work in the gym, speed – pretty much doing everything you could think of to better my game.”  

Levy and Levy were surprise finalists in 2024 as the No. 2 doubles team for the Avengers. Thet fell to Gabe Anderson and Bryce Kupperman in straight sets, as the Barrington duo put an end to a storybook run. Levy and Levy authored a different finish this time thanks to their steady play both from the baseline and at the net. 

It had been more than 40 years since two brothers teamed up to win a doubles championship in the state. Gordie Ernst and Bobby Ernst were the last to do it from Cranston East, capturing three straight from 1983-85. The tournament format has since changed – Gordie Ernst was also a four-time state singles champion, and doubles entries are now based on the team ladder rather than a selection off the roster. 

bkoch@providencejournal.com 

On X: @BillKoch25