BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
EDISON — The J.P. Stevens High School boys tennis team headed into this week’s action at 10-4.
After a meeting with Old Bridge earlier this week, the Hawks will now head into the Greater Middlesex Conference Flight Tournament set to begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Thomas Edison Park.
“It should be an interesting tournament,” Stevens head coach Ellen Pisano said. “The singles players have been knocking each other off all season. There are a lot of players with good wins and bad losses.”
The Hawks head to the courts this week coming off a huge victory over Red Division rival Saint Joseph on Friday.
No. 2 singles player Victor Wu lead the way with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Scott Taylor. With the win, Wu improved to 4-10 on the year.
“Victor has all the talent in the world, but he seems to panic a little in matches,” Pisano said. “We’re working on his mental game, but he’s had a rough time battling the wind. He has so much spin on his shots that the wind has hurt him the most. I hope this win is the start of a turnaround for him.”
No stranger to three-set matches, Wu has played in a team-high six three-setters.
Also coming up big against the Falcons was the No. 1 doubles team of Josh Safran and Rounak Rawal. Safran and Rawal breezed by Panos Tzetsos and Brian Bennett 6-0, 6-3. The tandem needs two wins this week to qualify for the state doubles tournament. They began the week at 10-4 and 10-2 in division play.
“At the beginning of the year I didn’t know what to expect from them,” Pisano said. “They are having a great year and I expect them to land one of the top four seeds in the GMC Tournament.”
The No. 2 doubles team of Steve Baum and William Terry clinched the victory with a thrilling three-set match. After fighting off four match points against Hani Mayassi and Greg Fatiano, match points to decide the ultimate outcome for team competition, Baum and Terry pulled off a dramatic comeback to win 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
The first time the two teams met Baum and Terry won the match for the Falcons in much the same way by scores of 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.
“I have two doubles teams that have been beating each other at practice,” Pisano said. “Steve and William have battled Amar Parikh and Ricky Shah with both teams seeing action.”
Unfortunately for Parikh and Shah, their action came in matches against East Brunswick and South Brunswick, and they lost both matches.
In other matches, No. 1 singles player Eric Finkelstein dropped to 6-8 losing to St. Joe’s Anthony Tunnero 2-6, 1-6.
“I’m hoping Eric lands a top-six seed in the tournament,” Pisano said. “He tends to play better versus better players. He isn’t a powerhouse player, so I knew he’d have a little trouble, but he’s doing a nice job.”
No. 3 singles player Nicky Dharia lost to Christian Bosoy 0-6, 1-6. Dharia fell to 10-4 with two losses coming at the hands of Bosoy.
“Nicky is my strength and he’s doing really well,” Pisano said. “Bosoy just happened to be on fire that day.”
The two will likely be seeded among the top three along with East Brunswick’s Roger Wang.