The day started with two entries from Section 2 still in the main draw. Stefan Kuhar was 7th seed in the singles and he faced Vihar Shah of Herrick High School at 8:00. Stefan lost his 2nd round match to Shah 6-1, 6-1. Stefan, a senior at Albany Academy has made states every year since the Eight Grade (7th grade he played Modified). “It’s nice to get seeded as a Senior- I was very happy.” It was a bitter sweet experience. “Strange that it’s the end of my high school tennis career. It hasn’t sunk in yet, I am going to miss it.” Tennis will still be in his plans. When I asked him about his tennis career he told me “there were a lot of great memories and there is a lot more memories to make.” He is going to Dartmouth next year and plans on playing Club tennis there.
The other Section 2 entry was the Guilderland doubles team of Eric Kopff and Austin Malerba. Austim is another Senior so making states was a great way to cap his high school tennis career. Eric and Austin also lost their match today by a score of 6-1, 6-2 to Alex Meyer and Matt Levine of Byram Hills.
In the consolation singles we had one win, one loss. First, Bethlehem’s Rohin Bose took on Lancaster High’s Brian Chowaniec and won 6-0, 6-2. Rob Schmitz (Scotia) ran up against another Northern Region player – Jake Crawford. It was a good fight but Jake won 7-6, 6-2. Rohin is a Junior, Rob is a Senior. Rob is headed to St. Lawrence to play tennis there.
Section 2 also went 1-1 in the morning doubles. Ned Feist and Jon Finn of Niskayuna lost to Sawyer Dina and Austin Bruno of Orchard Park. Jon is a senior so this was his last chance to qualify for states. Ned is the youngest player on this year’s team – he is a Sophomore. Junior Nick Deluke & Nick Mashuta of Bethlehem msde states for the second year in a row. The experience paid off with a 6-7(2), 7-5, 10-6 win in the consolation round. They beat Dan Hackford and Mike Perry of Seton High School.
In the afternoon backdraw matches Rohin lost to Colin Nardella (CBA of Syracuse) by a score of 6-0, 6-2. Mashuta/Deluke lost to Aaron Mevorach/Jordan Benjamin of Harley 6-0, 6-0.
