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The Providence JournaL / Glenn Osmundson

PAWTUCKET –– It never seems to come easy, but in the end the state’s top boys high school tennis title always comes to South Kingstown — at least for the past decade.

The Rebels made it 10 in a row yesterday as they completed a perfect season with a 5-2 victory over Barrington in the title match of the Division I state tourney at Slater Park.

The Rebels picked up the four points they need for the title by sweeping the four singles matches then added another point with a victory in the second doubles match en route to their 16th victory in 16 matches this season.

In the past couple of years, the Rebels won the state title match after losing to their title-round opponent during the regular season. This year, South Kingstown defeated Barrington twice during the regular season, but just like their 4-3 victory in the first regular-season meeting, nothing came easy for the Rebels yesterday.

Heck, even the Rebels’ top player –– state singles champion Kyle Burke –– was forced to work longer than normal before he registered South Kingstown’s first point of the match.

Burke, who will play in the title match of the state singles tournament tomorrow, rolled to a 6-0 victory in the opening set of his first singles match against Will Conaway and also took a 4-1 lead in the second set. But then Conaway began slicing and chipping his way back into contention.

Employing an extremely effective slice backhand, Conaway battled back to deadlock the set at 5-5. Then, after Burke took a 6-5 lead and had match point in the 12th game, Conaway battled back and even the set again at 6-6.

Conaway actually was only two points away from deadlocking the match as he took a 5-4 lead in the 12-point tiebreaker. But Burke, who is undefeated this season, closed out the match by winning three straight points.

Burke’s victory evened the team score at 1-1. Barrington had jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when the Eagles’ top doubles team of Sam Jerome and Ben Lucock posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Rebels Aaron Carey and Andrew Shumate.

Burke’s straight-sets victory took better than 90 minutes and it was more than 30 minutes later before another match finished. Finally, Andrew Burnap gave South Kingstown a 2-1 lead with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory over Matt DelSesto at third singles. A few minutes later, Jake Bueno-deMesquita upped South Kingstown’s lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jeff DeNunzio at second singles.

“Those were huge victories,” South Kingstown coach Andy Carr said of Bueno-deMesquita and Burnap’s triumphs. “Those were two matches that on paper could have gone either way. When we got those two points, along with Kyle’s victory, that put a lot of pressure on Barrington.”

The honor of clinching the title went to sophomore Cliff Bueno-deMesquita and he certainly put in a full day’s work en route to his victory at fourth singles. Bueno-deMesquita, the younger brother of Jake, posted a 6-3 decision in the first set of his match with Gates Jerome, but then Jerome evened the issue with a 7-5 victory in the second set. Jerome also battled back and sent the third set into a tiebreaker after trailing by as much as 4-1. But Bueno-deMesquita quickly took the lead in the tiebreaker en route to a 7-4 victory.

That gave South Kingstown a 4-1 lead and the title. A few minutes later the Rebels second doubles team of Eric Troob and Mike Mulroy made it 5-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. The duo of Pat McLaughlin and Sam Triebwasser registered Barrington’s second point with a straight sets victory at third doubles.

“They came a long way,” Carr offered about the 2008 Rebels who lost four starters from last year’s state championship team, including two of last year’s top four singles players.

Burke, SK def. Conaway, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5); J. Bueno-deMesquita, SK, def. DeNunzio, 6-3, 6-4; Burnap, SK, def. DelSesto, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; C.Bueno-deMesquita, SK, def. G. Jerome, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4); S. Jerome-Lucock, B, def. Aaron Corey-Andrew Súmate, 6-1, 6-3; Troob-Mulroy, SK, def. Chris Robinson-Tom VanHentenryck, 6-3, 6-4; McLaughlin-Triebwasser, B, def. Yosuke Kurokawa-Alex Kam

jgillool@projo.com