Top High School Tennis Stories of the Year - Part 1

 What an exciting year for Section 2 High School tennis.  Loren Cuomo (Schenectady-Mohonasen) showed us that the only thing that could stop her from winning Section 2 Championships was a pandemic (Sectionals were not held in 2020 due to COVID).  She had to settle for winning four straight Section 2 Championships.  After winning Sectionals, Loren went onto the State Championships at SPORTIME Schenectady - playing on the same courts she had won so many Sectional Championships on, and the winning wasn’t over for her.  Loren started off States with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win over Nicolette Loeffler (Cold Springs).   She followed that up with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Olivia Medrano of Pelham.  In the third round, she played Alyssa Margolin (Ward Melville Senior High).  Loren took the first set before losing 6-4 in the third.  Loren still had one match to go, and she capped off her High School Tennis career in style with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Mia Palladino (Brewster).  Loren played 4 great matches at States against 4 highly ranked players.

“I’ve had a good run through high school tennis; I have met some of my closest friends and have learned many life skills from playing.  Next year, I’m excited to continue it all at Binghamton University while majoring in Industrial Engineering and seeing where I go!” (Loren)

The buzz at Sectionals and States was “the Seventh Grader and the Eight Grader.”  We know them as Niskayuna’s Olivia Dartawan and Jeevika Benki.  Olivia and Jeevika were seeded fifth at Sectionals, but it soon became apparent that they were the team to beat.  Five matches later, Olivia and Jeevika were Section 2 Champions.  Both players were excited about their first State Championship tournament, and playing on their home courts was a big plus.  In the first round, Olivia and Jeevika took on Alexandra Ho and Eesha Kaushik (Syosset) and won 7-6 (2), 6-3.  Next up – were Katie Viau and Angelina Llanos (Syracuse). Benki and Dartawan won 6-3, 6-3.  Unfortunately, they had to play top-seeded Darian Perfiliev and Ellie Ross (Paul D. Schreiber Sr. High) in the next round.  Perfiliev and Ross were the top seeds, and they won 6-1, 6-2.  Darian is no stranger, as she has played several tournaments at SPORTIME Schenectady.  Unfortunately, Jeevika and Olivia lost the 7th place/8th place match to Tara Pollack and Mona Farah (Jamesville-Dewitt).  The tournament timing caused some anxiety for Raj Benki, Jeevika’s dad.  Raj had to bring Avaneesh – her brother – to West Point for a campus visit, and he missed the first day of the State Tournament but Made Utari – Olivia’s mom – was happy to pitch in and help.  “We dropped Jeevika at Made’s house in the early morning and drove to West Point.  But, my heart and soul were at SPORTIME Schenectady. "

 I was in constant contact with Made – I wanted to know the score every moment.  I was ecstatic when I heard that our girls won the first and second round.” He rushed home that night and was able to see the remaining matches.  

Tomorrow I will feature my other two top stories from high school tennis.  Bethlehem High School not only won both Boys and Girls Section 2 Championships but both the Boys team and the Girls team made it to the first NYS High School Team Championships.  Also, 10th grader Masami Surisawa (Albany) not only made it to States, but he won the back draw in Singles.

editor@518tennis.com