Suffolk boys tennis small schools championship will be determined by officials on Wednesday
Ignacio Lopez of Ross rips a forehand winner on his way to victory in first singles in the Suffolk small schools boys tennis team final against Bayport-Blue Point on Tuesday at Smithtown East. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
If there are two things you can bet on when it comes to Suffolk County high school tennis, it’s chaos and controversy. So it was again in Tuesday’s boys team tennis small school championship.
Five of the seven matches at Smithtown East had finished. The Ross School had won all three singles matches, Bayport-Blue Point had won two of the four doubles matches and the last two doubles matches were in pitched third-set battles.
The tension was seemingly broken when Ross seniors Alex Frohlich and Rowan O’Brien capped an emotional comeback against the Phantoms’ Declan Schug and Eric Swinkin for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph at fourth doubles and they were mobbed on the court by their teammates as the title-clinchers in the Ravens’ third straight county championship.
Moments later, Bayport-Blue Point juniors Luke Jensen and Nick Byman triumphed over the Ravens’ Peter Hackett and Nicolas Sanchez, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3), at second doubles. That, in the end, may prove to have been the clincher for the Phantoms’ first county crown.
Ross (17-1) won the contest on the court, 4-3, and is scheduled to advance and face Nassau champion Friends Academy, seeking its first Long Island championship. The Phantoms, however, are appealing the result and it will be heard by officials of Section XI, Suffolk’s governing body for high school sports, on Wednesday.
At issue is whether Ross used an ineligible player in the third doubles match who failed to meet the “representation rule,” that requires a postseason participant to have played in or dressed for and attended six matches. If it’s found that it did, one of the matches that the Ravens won — which didn’t even involve the player in question — would be forfeited and the title would go to the Phantoms (currently 14-3).
At the time the starting lineups were exchanged with county coordinator Mark Mensch, Ross co-coach Vinicius Carmo couldn’t produce documentation in the team scorebook to prove the player in question met the requirements. He even offered to forfeit that match, but he and BBP coach John Selvaggio believed the players should compete anyway and see if there proves to be an issue after all the results are in.
However, after the match concluded, the required documentation was in the Ravens’ book.
The allegation by Bayport-Blue Point is that a member of the Ross traveling party doctored the book while the matches were being played.
Having examined the book, and having seen the player’s name the requisite amount of times, Mensch declared Ross the county champion — at least for the moment. Asked if the player’s name appeared to have been written in different handwriting, Mensch replied, “It certainly looked that way.”
The Phantoms actually won the third doubles match that involved the player in question, but there’s a catch. According to Mensch, New York State rules dictate that if a match is forfeited all the matches that appear below it on the lineup card are also forfeited. And that would mean that the victory by Frolich and O’Brien would become a forfeit win by Bayport-Blue Point and a championship victory.
Pretty complicated? Forget about it, it’s Suffolk County.
“We turned in a hard-hat, lunchpail effort and I honestly don’t want to win it this way, but they shouldn’t win it that way,” Selvaggio said.
Ross’ Ignacio Pena Lopez and Jegger Cohen won at first and second singles, respectively, without dropping a game. Seventh-grader Walker Bohnsack won at third singles, 6-3, 6-2.
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.
