POB JFK’s Yuval Solomon leads Nassau contingent at state tennis tourney, advances to day two
Yuval Solomon prepares to hit a backhand during the 2017 NYSPHSAA boys tennis championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday, June 1, 2017. Credit: Errol Anderson
Three dominant singles performances helped Nassau make its mark on the first day of the state boys tennis tournament.
Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK senior Yuval Solomon, the 2016 state champion, received a bye as the top seed and defeated Albany Academy’s Conners O’Brien, 6-0, 6-0, in the second round Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. New Hyde Park’s Pete Siozios won, 6-1, 6-0, in the first round and 6-3, 6-1, in the second round, and North Shore’s Rajan Vohra won 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-0.
Solomon, Siozios and Vohra will represent Long Island in the singles quarterfinals at 8 a.m. Friday.
For Siozios and Vohra, Thursday was a novel experience. Neither had reached the state tournament until this year, their senior year.
“It’s so special,” said Siozios, who earned the No. 6 seed after reaching the county final. “I really can’t describe it. It’s my final year playing tennis for my high school. It’s indescribable. I feel so good. I’m really pumped for the next round, and I think that if I play my best I can do some damage.”
Siozios, who is committed to play tennis for Boston University, said he did not qualify for the state tournament as a sophomore because he had a scheduling conflict. As a junior, he said he was injured. But he’s healthy now, and controlled both of his matches with a consistent serve and dominant forehand.
“I was feeling pretty good,” he said. “There were some moments in the match where I kind of tightened up, but I was able to manage my nerves well and I thought I played well in the really important parts of the match.”
Vohra said he spent the last two spring seasons focusing on his USTA competition, so he did not compete for North Shore’s varsity. But he felt he had a chance to win a state title, and he took the No. 8 seed into the tournament.
“It’s definitely an accomplishment,” he said. “I feel like a little bit of weight’s lifted being a seed because you don’t have the toughest players in the draw.”
Long Island also sent three teams into the doubles quarterfinals: Half Hollow Hills West’s Tyler Nierman and Cameron Klepper, Syosset’s Preet Rajpal and Eli Grossman and Roslyn’s Sangjin Song and Zachary Khazzam.
Song and Khazzam already have improved their performance from last year, when they were eliminated in the second round. “That felt good,” Song said. “We feel good for tomorrow. Glad to make it to day two.”
Among those who did not reach the quarterfinals, Hills West’s Jackson Weisbrot (4-6, 7-5, 7-5) and Garden City’s duo of Tim Nacca and Patrick Bodovitz (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) each had impressive three-set first-round wins.
Weisbrot’s match lasted about 3 1⁄2 hours. After a break of approximately one hour, he faced No. 3 Hayden Cassone of John Jay Cross River and lost, 2-6, 3-6.
“It was hard,” Weisbrot said. “He’s a really good player.”
