Sports

Boys Tennis: Singles players come through for Mattituck

Parker Tuthill did his part as Mattituck swept the four singles matches against Longwood. He scored a 6-0, 6-0 win over Terence Lin. (Credit: Garret Meade)
Parker Tuthill did his part as Mattituck swept the four singles matches against Longwood. He scored a 6-0, 6-0 win over Terence Lin. (Credit: Garret Meade)

SUFFOLK COUNTY TEAM TOURNAMENT | TUCKERS 6, LIONS 1

In singles there is strength.

At least that is the case for the Mattituck High School boys tennis team.

Mattituck’s four singles players — Garrett Malave, Parker Tuthill, Andrew Young and Charles Hickox — all won in straight sets as the 11th-seeded Tuckers trounced No. 22 Longwood, 6-1, in a Suffolk County Team Tournament first-round match on Wednesday. With their fifth win in six matches, the Tuckers (12-4) advance to a Round of 16 match at No. 6 Westhampton Beach (13-2), the League VII champion, on Thursday. The Hurricanes had a first-round bye.

Malave needed only 36 minutes to dispatch his opponent at first singles, Will Figueroa, 6-2, 6-0. Tuthill cruised past Terence Lin, 6-0, 6-0; Young posted a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Brad Maslak; and Hickox beat Justin Jackman, 6-1, 6-3.

Those singles wins assured the Tuckers of the team win, taking pressure off the doubles teams that followed them onto the four courts at Mattituck High School.

Two of those Mattituck doubles teams prevailed. The No. 1 pairing of Tyler Rochen and Kevin Schwartz outlasted Jon Cruz and Niven Singh in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. At second doubles, Joe Macaluso and Nick Rabkevich teamed up for a 6-4, 7-5 win over Dave Barlow and Wade Mendoune.

The only team point of the day for Longwood (12-5), the League VIII champion, came from the third doubles tandem of Matt Covatti and Andrew Frey. After dropping a first-set tiebreaker to Ty Bugdin and Sean Granberg, 8-6, the Lions recovered, taking the second set, 7-5, and then triumphing in a super tiebreaker, 11-9.

The loss snapped Longwood’s six-match win streak, ending a season that saw the Lions capture their first league championship in over a decade.

Westhampton Beach defeated Mattituck twice during the regular season, both times by 7-0 scores. The Tuckers finished the regular season in third place in League VII.

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