Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press

By Drew Budd

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The Eastport South Manor boys tennis team continued its rule over League VIII teams in its first-ever varsity season as the Sharks defeated Shoreham/Wading River 6-1 on April 28 and then beat Mattituck 7-0 the following day with both wins coming at home.

The Sharks (9-0 League VIII, 10-0 overall) are almost a lock to win the League VIII title, but haven’t officially clinched it since three matches still need to be played. Southold/Greenport (7-3 League VIII) and William Floyd (6-3 League VIII) are within striking distance of stealing the league title from ESM, but the Sharks have already beaten all League VIII opponents once this season, with ease.

The Sharks hosted Riverhead on Monday before visiting William Floyd on Tuesday. ESM then visited Southold/Greenport on Wednesday in the teams final match of the season.

If ESM does indeed win League VIII, the Sharks will have two singles players and two doubles tandems in the Division Individual Tournament, which will be Friday at Shoreham/Wading River High School at 12 p.m. Which players get to advance will be determined at a coaches meeting on Thursday night. Also, if ESM is league champion, it will be moved up to League VII next season with the last place team in League VII being moved down to League VIII.

The top four singles and doubles players at the Division Individual Tournament will advance to the Suffolk County Individual Tournament, which will be May 16 at Suffolk County Community College in Selden at 9 a.m.

In varsity boys tennis, there is also a Long Island Team Tournament and, again, if ESM wins League VIII they will play the fourth place team in League VII. If they win that match, the Sharks will advance to the tournament, which will not begin until the beginning of May with a time and site to be determined by Section XI.

“Anything can happen at this point,” ESM head coach Danielle Falco said. “They have been putting in a lot of hard work with weekend practices. They know once they get to the tournament it’s going to be a lot more difficult. They don’t know what to expect. I know League VII is pretty good.”

League VII consists of tough East End teams—Westhampton Beach (8-0 League VII, 10-2 overall), Ross (7-1 League VII, 8-2 overall), Southampton (4-4 League VII, 6-5 overall) and East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson (3-5 League VII, 3-7 overall).

In the win over Shoreham/Wading River, Kyle Brewster won the first singles match 6-3, 6-1 over Wildcat Matt Davalio. In second singles, ESM’s Kevin Peters defeated Addison Baxter 7-6, 7-6 and in third singles Shark Anthony Fazio defeated Justin Cenuti 6-0, 7-5. Tom Kellman defeated Shoreham/Wading River’s Pete DeLeon 7-5, 6-1 in fourth singles.

ESM’s Mike Biggs and Nick Prisco, at first doubles, defeated Ben Daleki and Brian Cuzzo 6-2, 6-4. In second doubles, Sharks Dan Elitharp and Chris Andersen defeated Craig Cenuti and Ryan Buckley 6-1, 7-5. ESM lost the third doubles match as Wildcat’s John Rockford and Allan Todd defeated James Bell and Jordan Riley 6-3, 6-2.

The win over Mattituck was swept by ESM. Brewster defeated Mattituck’s Vinny Urwand 6-2, 6-3 to get the winning started as Peters defeated Tucker Sam Sheryll 6-0, 6-0 in second singles. Fazio then defeated Tucker Tim Young 7-5, 6-2 in third singles as Kellman defeated Mattituck’s Greg Jermysak 6-3, 6-2.

Biggs and Prisco, at first doubles once again, defeated Joe Pfaff and Connor Davis 6-2, 6-3. Elitharp and Andersen defeated Nick Italia and Jake Gamberg 6-2, 6-4 while ESM’s Bell and Larry Napoli defeated Nick DeLong and Evan Reed 6-1, 6-2.

Hampton Bays

The Baymen lost both of their matches last week by counts of 7-0 to Mt. Sinai on April 29 and Mattituck the following day with both matches being away. The match against Port Jefferson, which was supposed to be played on Friday at Red Creek Park, was cancelled due to poor weather conditions and will not be made up.

Hampton Bays sits in second to last place with a 1-9 League VIII record and 1-11 overall record. The Baymen closed their season with a match at Red Creek Park on Monday against William Floyd and a match at Riverhead on Wednesday.