Syosset girls tennis overpowers Port Washington for second straight Nassau large schools title
Elaine Liu and Hannah Wang after their win in second doubles clinched Nassau large schools girls tennis title on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. Credit: James Escher
Syosset left no room for doubt or debate on Tuesday.
It had split a pair of hotly contested regular-season matches with formidable Port Washington before they were pitted against each other in the Nassau girls Large Schools team tennis championship match. However, Syosset was nothing short of overpowering when the stakes were highest and rolled to a 6-1 triumph at Wheatley.
Syosset (16-1) is county champion for the second straight year and has won five of the last seven that were played. It will meet the Suffolk champion on Nov. 2 for the Long Island Division I crown and a trip to the National Tennis Center in Queens for a state semifinal. Syosset lost in the state championship match a year ago.
The combination of Post Washington spoiling a perfect season and the lingering feelings over the 2023 state title loss created a kind of fire in the bellies of the Syosset players.
“That definitely did add fuel to it,” said Elaine Liu, who teamed with Hannah Wang for a 6-1, 6-2 win at second doubles that clinched the match. “We all wanted to get the county championship and hopefully get a state title. Defending our title was definitely something we had in mind all season.”
“There's a ton of returning girls from last year and they want to get back to states,” Syosset coach Shai Fisher said. “That was the goal from day one. They knew they had to get through this match, through an excellent Port team that beat us the first time . . . But if you ask them, the job is not done. They want to get to the states and finally win.”
Doubles play has been the cornerstone of Syosset’s successes, but the performances of singles players Stephanie Marcheret, Zia Mukherjee and Sanam Mehta took center stage. Marcheret won in straight sets at first singles while dropping only two games; Mukherjee won at second singles dropping just three games and Mehta completed the sweep with a 7-6 (1), 7-1 win at third singles.
“Doubles always does a great job stepping it up,” Mehta said. “We wanted to do the same.”
“It’s always been about the Syosset depth, and our depth for this year is definitely there as well, but our top of the lineup when we're fully healthy . . . is one of the best singles lineups we’ve had,” Fisher said.
Her singles win on this stage was especially rewarding for Mukherjee, who lost singles matches in the two regular-season meetings, but delivered with consistent serves and accurate ground strokes.
“I knew the importance of this match and I just kind of absorbed all the all the energy . . . (from) all my teammates — they were all really pumped up,” Mukherjee said. “I felt last year was kind of my peak with tennis and I feel like I got it back to that level today,”
Siena McGuffin and Jamesy Hershman had a straight-sets win at third doubles, the lone win for the Vikings (14-3).
Rounding out the Syosset victory were Diya Varma and Selena Wang with a straight-sets win at first doubles and Shubhangi Pradhan and Kaylo Lo with a three-setter at fourth doubles.
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.