East Hampton Boys Tennis Team Looking To Be At The Top This Season; Sacconaghi To Lead Southampton

It’s a unique year for the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton boys tennis team, but it is poised to be one of the most exciting head coach Kevin McConville has been a part of.

“I’ve been granted a nice group of young, talented kids. The program looks great right now,” McConville said. “This is my sixth year, and this is the best team I’ve seen. This is the best I’ve felt about a team going into the season — and in all but one of those years since I’ve been coaching, we’ve made it to the team Suffolk County semifinals.”

Four members of the Bonackers team graduated last year, but the coach is looking forward to the addition of eighth-graders Henry Cooper and Jaeger Cohen. Both, he said, were good enough to make the 2021 varsity team, but the district has a rule preventing seventh grade participation.

“They will both start and play prominent roles,” McConville said. “And I’ve been developing Jaeger since he was a real little kid at Hampton Racquet, so he’s been with me for a long time.”

Henry Cooper joins his older brother, Nick, an All-County sophomore who returns to the No. 2 singles spot. Above him is standout Max Astilean, a junior and the oldest member of the team, who the coach said has improved his game immensely over the summer.

“He’s been working extremely hard, and his results have been great,” McConville said of his team captain. “He’s working out, he’s way stronger and bigger — he’s beating people he used to lose to. He’s completely devoted to the sport right now.”

Astilean is looking to get a Division I scholarship and is hoping an extension beyond the county Top 8, which he reached last year, will help him get there. He fell to Ward Melville’s Aron Bursztyn, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, 6-0, 6-2, and is hoping for a rematch with Bursztyn, now a senior.

“I’m really excited about his future,” McConville said of Astilean. “It’ll be exciting to see how does when he meets some good competition.”

New to the team will be Sag Harbor sophomore Chris Pilarski, who earned a spot as an eighth-grader prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, but who lived elsewhere last season, and brothers Cameron Mitchell, a sophomore, and Kiefer Mitchell, a freshman, who are transfers from the Ross School.

“Cameron and Kiefer are both outstanding players,” McConville said. “They were very polished players before I even met them.”

What is most impressive about this team is that the entire lineup plays tennis year-round. “I normally have just two or three kids who compete in tournaments,” the coach said. “Because of the depth of our team, others are going to have to be really talented to beat us. So I love our chances.”

With the way things currently stand, Pilarski and Cohen will round out the singles lineup, and the rest will be matched up with doubles partners. “The focus will definitely be on the doubles lineup, because they all know how to play really good singles,” McConville said.

Another change from years past is the Bonackers are slated to play their first eight matches on the road, because tennis court restoration at the high school is ongoing. While the blacktop is down, the DecoTurf is not. There needs to be three straight days of temperatures 55 degrees or warmer for the company to consider coming out to paint, and from there it depends on when someone is available to finish the job. The courts need three layers of paint and time to dry before they can be played on.

As a result, the team has been practicing at East Hampton Indoor Tennis, which McConville said has been a major advantage, despite hiccups, with the lack of school buses forcing parents to transport kids and practices sometimes being held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. due to court availability.

“Our conditions are great,” the coach said. “We practice rain or shine.”

East Hampton kicked off the season with a 6-1 win over Sachem on March 25. The Bonackers travel to Comsewogue for a 4 p.m. match on March 31, and to Sayville on Friday, April 1, for a 4:30 p.m. contest.

“The No. 1 thing is they’re so easy to coach, because they’re so competitive with each other. The level is so close,” McConville said. “We normally have some advanced and some lower-level players, but everyone is real solid. I don’t have to motivate the kids to try hard — they have it in them. And that’s what I’m most pleased with.”

Senior Luke Sacconaghi, who will captain Southampton’s boys tennis team this season, is making the move from No. 1 doubles to No. 1 singles.

An All-County player last season, Sacconaghi finished third in the conference with then-No. 1 doubles partner Tyler Moore, who has since graduated. Head coach Juni Wingfield said he will look to his top competitor for his experience and leadership.

“Luke Sacconaghi takes responsibility and lets everyone know there are no excuses,” Wingfield said. “Luke is the one player who actually competes on a regular basis on some higher level outside of high school tennis, so his experience is big.”

Also returning are seniors Luke Bryan, Gabriel Cambron, Raphael Garcia, and Andrew and Matthew Villalobos, and juniors Yassin Boukissi, Charles Davis and Yostin Sandoval.

“This year’s team is a group of talented seniors and juniors who have already made outstanding contributions to our school and community,” Wingfield said. “It is my hope that they nurture an intrinsic love for the values of the game of tennis.”

Luke Bencardino, a sophomore, also reenters Southampton after transferring to East Hampton last year. Seniors Kellen Jeffries and Daniel Sibre round out this season’s lineup.

The Mariners played host to Babylon on Tuesday; results were not yet available. Southampton travels to Southold for a 4 p.m. match on March 31, and hosts Elwood-John Glenn on Saturday, April 2, at 11 a.m.

“I have such a great group of boys — they come out and work hard to improve and are ready to compete,” Wingfield said. “I already know from the way they practice they will always give 100 percent, which means they have courage. I’m feeling really good about their work ethic, and that’s the most important thing.”