Bedford Boys Tennis Team Wins State Championship; Breaks Weston’s Streak

By Doug Denny-Brown

Late on Sunday afternoon on the Dupont Tennis Courts at MIT, the Bedford High School boys tennis team broke fellow DCL powerhouse Weston High School’s 7-year state championship winning streak to a claim the MIAA Division 3 State Champion title for Bedford. The Bedford Buccaneers took a decisive 4 -1 win to end the season.   

“We’ve gone deep into the playoffs every year and never gotten it done, so this just feels really great,” said Senior #3 singles Logan Cox. 

The Bedford team was loaded with five competitive, talented and experienced seniors in the top five positions. At singles Cox is joined by 4-year starters co-captains #1 Dillon Denny-Brown and #2 Spencer Goss. Bedford tennis has not only qualified for the playoff tournament all four years of their high school career, but has gone deep into the tournament only losing to the eventual champion. 

In 2022, Bedford lost 3-2 to Wayland in the State Championship, took a close loss in the semi-finals to eventual champion Wayland in 2023, and a 3-2 loss to Weston in the State Championship last year. 

The last time Bedford won the state championship was 2015; it was also the last time Bedford beat Weston during the regular season until this year. 

Equipped with a strong line-up and the confidence of the regular season Weston win, this was the year. Bedford dominated the playoffs outscoring their opponents 22-3.

Leading up to the championship match Bedford had beaten a tough, underseeded, and upset-minded #13 Boston Latin Academy team 4-1 in the semi-finals, while Weston had a 5-0 sweep of a talented #2 Martha’s Vineyard team that had been 18-1. 

First to finish on Sunday was Cox, who came from behind to win a tough 3-set battle only days earlier against Boston Latin, and had also lost to his Weston #3 opponent earlier in the year in 3 sets.  In the championship, however, Cox started out on fire and never looked back, dominating his Weston opponent this time in two convincing sets, which put Bedford up 1-0.  

Next to finish was Denny-Brown, who had played incredibly well in his past two matches, and had clinched Bedford’s final-four team win days earlier, but despite some excellent tennis against Weston #1 Peter Chen, who has reportedly never lost a high school match, Denny-Brown lost in two solid sets, which tied the team match 1-1.  

Minutes later, however, Bedford’s 1^st doubles team of accomplished seniors Leo Natalizio and Charles Demeo, who had won a tough close first set, began to click on all cylinders in the second set, and won handily, putting Bedford up 2-1.

Junior super-sub Ryan Liu was called in to play at 2^nd Doubles in the playoffs in place of French exchange student Robin Gayraud-Prin who unexpectedly needed to return to France after playing in that slot all season. “This win is for Robin!” and “Shout out for Robin!” the first doubles team rallied shortly after the win. “And Ryan Liu for stepping up!”  

Liu had the task of joining fellow junior Rylan Nichols to play their debut doubles match as a team in the first round of the playoffs. Luckily, both Liu and Nichols are quick studies, and improved together with each playoff match.  

In the championship, they found themselves quickly behind in the first set. “There was some pressure, but I think I played well today,” Liu said.  The team regained their footing, battled back after the first set, won the set in a tie-breaker, and then, like the 1st doubles team, began to click, and dominated their opponents in the second set to win.  

Their match win was the deciding third that gave Bedford the Division 3 State Championship.  

Liu and Nichols were mobbed on the court by smiling, jumping, and cheering teammates to celebrate the first Bedford state championship in a decade.  

However, Goss was still involved in a singles battle with his talented opponent, Winston Starrett, so the team and fans re-focused on Goss’s match a few courts away. Goss won in a gritty 10-5 third-set tie-break to give Bedford its convincing 4-1 team win.  

After Goss completed the match, the team received the state championship trophy, and each team member was given a gold medal. As the victorious team vans came back to Bedford, they were escorted by Bedford’s finest, both fire and police, with a generous honorary escort, lights flashing, and sirens sounding all the way from the Bedford-Lexington town line, down The Great Road to BHS.

Long time successful head coach John Geilfuss, who has now led Bedford into three state titles, was assisted by coach Marjorie Marino this year. Geilfuss was excited following the match and said this was a great win, especially for this group of athletic seniors, most of whom are two and three sport athletes and all-stars earning their first state championship after many seasons of playoffs across sports. 

This team didn’t win on talent and athleticism alone. The team began training during the winter, prevented injuries, supporting each other before, during, and after matches; and seniors left many graduation celebrations in the last week to get prepared for each round of playoffs.

Around one hundred Bedford sports supporters, including athletes from other Bedford teams, friends, siblings, relatives, community members, school staff, cheered and rallied with the Bedford team in Cambridge on Sunday and through the playoffs.

While the Bedford High School tennis program is graduating the top five players, the team is deep with varsity level talent playing at this years the junior varsity level and a pool of strong incoming freshman. Geilfuss’ history of leading strong teams should be preserved for years to come.

Congratulations, Bedford High School boys tennis!