Syosset wins third straight Nassau boys tennis title
Syosset celebrates its win over Roslyn in the Nassau large school boys tennis team championship on Thursday at Wheatley. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
The Syosset boys tennis championship machine is whirring again.
The two-time defending state large school champion is stalking a third title and took the first step in that direction on Thursday against Roslyn by overwhelming the Bulldogs with their depth, 4-3, at Wheatley. The victory proved narrow, but Syosset won four of the first five matches to finish, including the first three doubles matches.
“We started a little unsure of how we’d do because we added some underclassmen and some middle school players to the roster,” junior co-captain Nikhil Shah said. “But this team really came together well. And we’ve been in this place before and this team seems destined to win a state championship.”
Syosset (18-1) is county champion for a third straight year and for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons that were played. It advances to meet Suffolk champion Half Hollow Hills East (19-0) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. for the Long Island championship at Wheatley.
“This team is more seasoned because of who we have back,” Syosset coach Shai Fisher said. “And we’re playing a higher level of doubles than last year.”
Junior Aayan Mehta was aware that Syosset had already won three doubles matches as he battled in a tense third singles match against Roslyn junior Brian Toh. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, he finally broke serve in the eighth game of the second set and though he dropped two points, served out the ninth game for a 7-6 (3), 6-3 that clinched the title.
“We’ve won two [state] championships in a row and it was really important to us to repeat this match,” Mehta said. “We’ve only taken the first step here.”
Perhaps the most impressive effort of the day came from the Bulldogs’ senior Ethan Solop at first singles against Syosset senior Devan Melandro. The Villanova commit managed to shake off dropping a first set in which his serve was broken four times in games that went to deuce and dropped only one game the rest of the day for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory.
“Once my forehand locked in and I adjusted to the [new brand of] ball, I felt like every point was about whether I made the shot to win it or I didn’t,” he said.
Syosset’s Jacob Prince and Aidan Maddux, Veyd Trivedi and Shiv Chadha and Loui Peredo and Anik Paul won in straight sets at first, second and third doubles respectively.
Bartek Dziedziach won in straight sets at second singles and Foti Fotinakopoulos and Luka Ostad prevailed in three sets at fourth doubles for Roslyn (14-4).
“We had a lot of energy on the courts,” Trivedi, a senior, said. “You always see high energy in Nassau, and especially from us.”
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.
