Garden City domination: Nina Wiese wins Nassau girls tennis singles title, Angelina Bravo and Kayla Castellano take doubles crown

It started as a seeming Cinderella story. Now it’s starting to look like a full-scale takeover.

Garden City continued to make waves in Nassau County girls tennis on Sunday by pulling off a clean sweep at the Section VIII individual championships. Senior Nina Wiese breezed through her final two matches to capture the singles championship and senior Kayla Castellano and freshman Angelina Bravo took down the No. 1- and No. 2-seeded pairings to earn the doubles crown.

All three will be in action for the undefeated and seventh-seeded Trojans in Monday’s semifinal of the team championships when they attempt to follow last Thursday’s upset of No. 2 Roslyn in a matchup against third-seeded Hewlett.

“Another day in the amazing season we’re having,” Castellano said. Added Wiese: “I couldn’t have asked for a better senior season than this one.”

The top-seeded Wiese dropped only one game in her two matches. After she defeated No. 5 Madison Lee of Great Neck South, 6-1, 6-0, in a semifinal, she played a nearly flawless final against No. 2 Kailin Gochna of North Shore for a 6-0, 6-0 win in the final.

Wiese, who is the first county singles winner from Garden City since Alexa Graham in 2012, should be in line for a top-four seed at this weekend’s state championships in Schenectady.

Gochna posted a 6-1, 6-3 semifinal win over Angel Walia of Herricks to earn a state tournament berth. Walia topped Lee in the third-place match, 6-4, 6-4, to punch her ticket to the state tourney.

Wiese was the third-place finisher a year ago — and was sixth in the 2022 state tournament — and said, “I had a lot more confidence this year and I was looking to redeem myself for losing a close semifinal last season.

“I like the pressure that comes with being expected to win on paper. So when I got to the final, I wanted every point and to always stay in control.”

Gochna played for the Vikings as a seventh- and eighth-grader, spent three seasons doing tournament play and returned to high school tennis for her senior season. “Playing counties was a great experience and I can’t wait for states,” she said.

Castellano’s deft play of the angles from the baseline and Bravo’s quick reactions at the net helped the No. 6 seeds get past second-seeded Zia Mukherjee and Stephanie Marcharet of Syosset, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals. They then had to wait as top-seeded Andrea and Evangelina Vases, sisters from Manhasset, grinded out a nearly three-hour 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 semifinal win over unseeded Manami Wakazono and Diya Varma of Syosset. Castellano and Bravo looked fresher in winning the title match, 6-2, 6-4.

Wakazono and Varma will be the third Nassau entry in the state doubles tournament after topping their Syosset teammates, Mukherjee and Marcharet, 6-4, 7-5.

Castellano had played county tournament singles in past years but made a connection with Bravo at tryouts after the freshman’s family moved from Howard Beach to Garden City this year. It turned out their skill sets made for a great pairing.

“The first thing I noticed about her was how nice she was at tryouts,” Castellano said. “And she shines on the court . . . She has the quickest hands and great agility at the net.”

“It was such a compliment she wanted to play with me,” Bravo said. “I love how she’s a baseline grinder. She’s insane on the baseline, and that gives us a kind of variety to win.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

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.