The champ! Garden City's Nina Wiese wins state girls tennis title in singles
Nina Wiese of Garden City plays in the state girls tennis singles final on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, in Schenectady. Credit: Cindy Schultz
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Nina Wiese gave herself the best birthday present of all.
The Garden City senior left no room for doubt about who is the top high school singles player in the state on Saturday as she overpowered local favorite Olivia Dartawan of Niskayuna for a 6-1, 6-1 victory in the final of the NYSPHSAA Girls Tennis Individual Championships at this city’s Central Park tennis courts.
Wiese, the Nassau County champ and No. 4 seed, needed just 70 minutes to dispatch the third-seeded Dartawan. After the two shook hands at center court, Wiese made her way to coach Crystal Boyd as the full contingent of players from Long Island serenaded her with “Happy Birthday.” All 18th birthdays should feel so good.
Wiese took sixth place here last season after finishing third in the Nassau singles tournament. The state championship win brings her record in matches this season to 24-0.
“This was a goal for me coming into the season,” Wiese said. “Last season was the first time I’d played in ‘Counties’ or ‘States,’ and I thought it was possible win both this time. I never stopped believing in myself, never stopped believing that winning was possible.”
“She was the picture of consistency today,” Boyd said. “She broke the other girl’s backhand down and did a great job of moving her from side to side to side. I’ve never seen a player who sets up points so well.”
Wiese is the first Garden City player to win a state individual championship since Kelsey and Jaqueline Raynor captured the 2008 doubles crown, according to Section VIII records.
The match started to go in Wiese’s direction when she broke serve in the fourth game of the first set for a 3-1 lead. She won the next three games and the set while dropping just four points.
The roll continued into the second set with Wiese breaking Dartawan’s serve twice in the first three games to take a 3-0 lead.
“Once I broke her in the first set, I knew I could break her again,” Wiese said. “I could feel the momentum shift.”
“She put it where she wanted to put it and barely missed a first serve,” Boyd said. “She played it like she never doubted she would win.”
Wiese has had moments in matches when she admonishes herself for mishitting a ball or making a mistake. But there was none of that against Dartawan.
Garden City senior Kayla Castellano, watching from the stands, noticed how calm her teammate was. "It’s a good look for her,” Castellano said.
“There really wasn’t much for me to be upset about myself over,” Wiese said.
Wiese will be playing first singles for Garden City as the county and state team championships play out this coming week with a Nassau large schools title match against Syosset scheduled for Monday, a possible Long Island championship match Tuesday and the final two rounds of the state championships on Friday at the USTA National Tennis Center.
“Being part of my team has been so great this season,” Wiese said. “I hope the team can experience what its like to win all those things.”
Rounding out the field: Angel Wallia of Herricks lost the fifth place match to Scarsdale’s Charlene Dong, 6-2, 6-2, to finish sixth. North Shore’s Kailin Gochna fell in the seventh-place match to Eastchaster’s Anselma Petrie, 6-0, 6-4, to finish eighth.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
