Hills West Beats Rival Hills East for Second Time This Season
The Half Hollow Hills East Boys Tennis team came into the 2015 season with a 106-match winning streak over Suffolk County opponents, but its cross-town rivals, the Hills West Colts, has now beaten the Thunderbirds twice this season following a 4-3 victory on Thursday afternoon.
In a back and forth match, the contest came down to the third doubles match between Hills East’s Sahil Varma & Justin Dubler and Hills West’s Tyler Nierman & Eric Hechler.
The Hills East duo took the first set 6-2, but lost by the same margin in the second set, forcing this crucial match into a deciding third.
On serve, down 2-3 in the third, the service games from Hills East became an issue. Some double-faults allowed Hills West to pick up two break points, and they would eventually go on to close out the set 6-2.
“This third doubles team was the one I counted on, and we double-faulted away the match,” said Hills East head coach Tom Depelteau.
Duane Davis, stepped up and nailed down a big win at second singles, beating Arnav Srivastava 6-2, 6-3.
“I felt like I played pretty well,” said Davis. “My serves and ground strokes were alright, a lot of wind and adversity but I overcame it. I had more confidence and I felt like I had him mentally.”
Hills West rebounded nicely from the loss of Aziz Rashidaza, who had to retire with an injury while down 1-3 to Travis Leaf in the first set. The Colts recovered to win four of the next six matches to secure the win.
The win improves Hills West to 9-0 on the season, while Hills East drops to 11-2, with the only two defeats coming at the hands of its rival.
Here is a full list of scores from yesterday’s action on Long Island:
Nassau County
Conference I-A
Port Washington 4, Plainview JFK 3
Conference II
Oceanside 6, Mepham 1
Bellmore JFK 6, North Shore 1
Conference IV-A
Freeport 4, Malverne 3
Baldwin 5, Uniondale 2
Suffolk County
League I
Commack 7, Northport 0
League II
Smithtown East 4, Smithtown West 3
Harborfields 6, Glenn 1
League III + League IV
Islip 4, Brentwood 3
North Babylon 5, Deer Park 2
League V
Miller Place 4, Sachem East 3
Patchogue-Medford 6, Mt. Sinai 1
Ward Melville 6, Bayport-Blue Point 1
League VI
Stony Brook 6, Bellport 1
League VII
Westhampton 4, Mattituck 3
East Hampton/Bridgehampton/Pierson 6, Southampton 1
Ross 5, Longwood 2
League VIII
Floyd 5, Hampton Bays 0
Scenes From Half Hollow Hills East vs. Half Hollow Hills West
Credit photos to Matthew Cohen
