BOYS TENNIS: John Scott’s loss to Lawrenceville’s Ross Rosenstein was the deciding factor in the state Prep A team championship race.
By: Neil Hay
The state Prep A Tennis Championship was there to be had
All the Peddie netters needed was to win at first singles to pull it off. And with senior John Scott going against Lawrenceville’s Ross Rosenstein in the finals, you had to like the Falcons’ chances.
But Scott was unable to defeat Rosenstein. And that gave the Big Red the title with 16 points, two more than second place Blair and four better than Peddie’s 12.
"First singles was the match we had to win," said Peddie coach Eric Gustavson.
Before the match began, Scott drew an opening round bye (out of a hat) as the number one seed. That proved to be more of a curse than a blessing. Sure the two team points that went with the bye helped the Falcons’ score. But sitting out a match, instead of getting the blood flowing by playing, took the edge off Scott. By the time Scott took the court in the semifinals against Rosenstein, his opponent was fully warmed by his quarterfinal match, a 10-0 pro set win over Hun’s Scott Wong. Scott, meanwhile, was at a disadvantage; he needed time to get ready. Scott would lose the first set 6-0, and was down 2-0 in the second before rallying for a 6-3 win. In the final set, however, Scott was defeated by Rosenstein 6-3. Rosenstein would go on to lose in the finals to Blair’s Chris Wong 2-6, 7-6 (6-4 tiebreaker), 3-6.
"The bye hurt," said Gustavson. "John had to play a good player who already had played a match. He was one of three number one seeds who lost the first match. It’s a poison gift.
"We knew the player he was playing was good," said Gustavson of Rosenstein. "But it was a player John should have beaten. John got off to a terrible start."
In the third set Scott was ahead 2-1, then let it slip away.
"Rosenstein didn’t give anything away. John played tight, while Rosenstein didn’t make many mistakes. If we win at first singles, we win the tournament. That is the difference. Scott had a great year. He has been a great number one for us for four years. He deserved better than to go out like this. It’s too bad."
The highlight of the day from a Peddie perspective was Yuriy Pereyaslavskiy’s win at second singles. In this case, the Peddie sophomore did not let a first-round bye get to him. He came out strong with a 6-0, 6-2 semifinal win over Hun’s Ankeet Kansupada, then breezed past Stephen Chao of Lawrenceville, 6-1, 6-2 in the finals.
"Yuriy played really well. He dominated. It was no surprise. He finished the regular season with just one loss. He is one of the best in the area."
For the second consecutive year Will Patterson made finals at third singles. The Peddie senior opened with a 10-5 pro set win over Edison Bilbao of St. Benedict’s. He then outlasted top seed Scott Simon of Montclair-Kimberley 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. But in finals Patterson was defeated by Blair’s Andy Porter 6-4, 1-6, 0-6.
"Patterson struggled most of the year, got his game back, then was sick. He stepped up (Sunday) and played really well. Will’s a competitor. He played with bronchitis. In the third set he started out really well, then ran out of gas. He had nothing left."
At first doubles senior Derek Chao and sophomore Anthony Passannante opened with a 10-0 win over Will Kinead and Tyler Adams of Montclair-Kimberley. But in semis they lost 6-2, 6-2 to eventual champs Constantine Mavroudis and Brian Lee of Lawrenceville.
"They played very well in their first match," said Gustavson of Chao and Passannante. "In the next match the Lawrenceville pair kept up the pressure. They never got it going."
In the day’s final match, second doubles, junior Mike Prashad and sophomore Josh McGuiness were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Lawrenceville’s Chris Delaney and Kevin Huang, 10-5.
"We played tight and got behind early. There were a lot of big points we couldn’t convert. That was disappointing."
The Falcons completed the season with an 11-6 record. It was the kind of year that just missed being something special.
"It was a season where everything didn’t break right for us," said Gustavson. "We had a good season but no breakthrough matches. We lost to state powers Delbarton, Moorestown, and Princeton, all by 3-2.
"Winning the state tournament would have been huge, but we didn’t make a breakthrough. That’s disappointing."
The Falcons lose Scott, Patterson, Chao, Kyle Leotsakos, and Sabbie Sandhu. Returnees include Pereyaslavskiy, Passannante, McGuiness, Prashad, sophomore Todd Roffman, and juniors Ross Packard and Derek Guneratne.