Stephanie Marcheret's return propels Syosset girls tennis to victory over Port Washington
Stephanie Marcheret of Syosset celebrates her win in a Nassau girls tennis match on Saturday. Credit: Neil Miller
Having a great return is big in tennis. Stephanie Marcheret made a different kind of return for Syosset and it couldn’t have been timed better.
Sidelined all season by a left ankle injury, the junior returned to her place at first singles for Syosset’s biggest match of the regular season and helped it to a 4-3 victory over visiting Port Washington. She won a battle of wills with Vikings freshman Brianna Lewis, 7-5, 6-4.
Those two schools have been locked in a battle with Roslyn atop Nassau I all season and this win not only snaps the Vikings 10-match winning streak, but also cracks the door open for Syosset to win the regular season title and snare the top seeding for the playoffs if all three win out.
Port Washington (10-2) could have been in the driver’s seat with a win. But Syosset (11-1) now can move into sole possession of first place with a win against Roslyn (10-2) on Monday.
“This win puts us in the position we want to be in for getting the top seeding and avoiding a tough semifinal [likely against Port or Roslyn],” Syosset coach Shai Fisher said. “We were strong without Stephanie but she moves everyone down in the lineup
Marcheret was rusty, but one could almost see her knocking the rust off as she and Lewis battled. There were unforced errors early, but she won the final three games to take the first set. And when she couldn’t close out the second set at 5-2 and dropped two straight games, she mentally regrouped to finish.
“I beat a very good opponent, but I need to get back to match mentality,” Marcheret said. “I hope I can make a difference and bring stability and energy to our team.”
Port won the teams’ first meeting 4-3, winning all three singles matches. This time around, Evie Loewy’s straight-sets win at No. 2 was the only singles victory.
Syosset’s Sanam Mehta bounced back from early trouble against the Vikings’ Catherine Karman — the Virginia Tech-bound lacrosse star — and regrouped for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win at third singles for the clincher.
“I had to start going for more of my shots to win,” Mehta said. She added, “Stephanie brings us back to full strength and that should really help.”
Syosset got wins at first and second doubles from the teams of Selena Wang and Diya Varma and Hannah Wang and Elaine Liu. Port Washington got wins at third and fourth doubles from the teams of Siena McGuffin and Jamesy Hershman and Lila Hershman and Peri Cooper.
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.