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06/11/2014 12:00 AMIt was a bittersweet taste after Hand boys' tennis shared the Class L state title last June, yet this year the Tigers got to soak up the dream of being state champions all by themselves.
After sharing the title with Fairfield Warde in 2013, Hand outlasted the Mustangs this year by collecting 25 points to Warde's 21 to take the title outright. Unlike the previous tournament, the Tigers claimed the crown while boasting a finalist this year in senior Scott Rubinstein, who fell in the final to Noah Farrell of Wilton (4-6, 3-6).
"It feels great to win the state title. Going into this season, our goals were to win the SCC title and state title outright," said Rubinstein, who also earned his fourth-straight All-State Team bid by virtue of reaching the semifinals. "I just tried to take it one match at a time. I wanted to clinch the title for us, so I just stayed focused with no lapses in concentration. Once I saw that I won the match that clinched the title for us, it hit me that we are the No. 1 team in the state, and it's surreal. In my four years at Hand, this was probably the strongest and deepest team we've ever had, and this tournament showed the talent we have."
Overall for the entire draw, Hand sent three soloists and all three of its doubles duos to the five-day event at Yale, which concluded on June 4. In the singles bracket, two competitors in seniors Alex Rieger and David Schulz reached the quarterfinals. On the doubles side of things, junior Andrew Goldfeder and freshman Kyle Fay were semifinalists (also All-State); sophomore Andrew Pace and sophomore Dan Weinreb reached the round of 8; plus junior Collen Nelson and senior Louis Rogers made it to the third round.
"The last few weeks have been a grind, so it feels great to come out on top at the end of it," said Rieger. "We had one of the deepest teams in the state, and we had a lot of our guys go far in the tournaments, so it shows our depth. This shows the mentality and focus our guys have for tennis and also the dedication the school has to its sports."
On Rubinstein's journey to the finals, he defeated Hall's Anrej Antic in a first-round perfect sweep (6-0, 6-0); Warde's Henry Johnson (6-1, 6-0) for the second; Tom Buckley of RHAM with the round of 16 (6-1, 6-0); Ludlowe's Mason Jennings (6-0, 6-1) in the quarters; and Ted Berkowitz from Warde in the semifinals to complete the No. 3 seed's dominant tournament run.
"I'm ecstatic; we have a team that worked hard to succeed and did just that, and it just mattered what we did as a team here," said Head Coach Dawn Fagerquist. "Scott just kind of beats to a different drum; he has a game plan and just knows how to work every point and opponent. It's something inside him. He's calm, cool, and keeps his head together."
For 5th-seeded Rieger, his road to the quarterfinals was also paved with straight-set decisions. First, he knocked off Daniel Kmetz of RHAM (6-0, 6-1); then Fairfield Ludlowe's Ethan King (6-0, 6-0) during the second round; and Ron Abraham of Newington (6-1, 6-1) prior to falling to Roy Smith of Notre Dame-West Haven (3-6, 4-6) in the Elite 8.
Schulz, the No. 8 seed, started by defeating Peter Flynn of Middletown (6-0, 6-0) before moving on to best New Milford's Hunter Barrett by the same scores. In the third round, he knocked off Peter Mao of South Windsor (6-1, 6-3), but then he lost to Berkowitz (2-6, 1-6) for the quarters. Rounding out the solo players, senior Austin Paresi reached the second round before falling to Farrell (0-6, 1-6).
"Alex is just as good as the top guys in the state," said Fagerquist. "David came through again for us; he's just calm, smart, and shows no emotion. He just has a little bit more force when he's out there."
With 3rd-seeded Goldfeder and Fay, they earned a first-round bye before sweeping South Windsor's Prathamesh Bang and Kunna Khattar (6-0, 6-0), and then winning a third-round marathon against Daniel Pavoni and Eric Segerberg from Warde (4-6, 6-1, 19-17).The tandem took another drawn-out match in the quarterfinals (3-6, 6-1, 10-7) versus Alex and Jordan Lord of Wilton prior to dropping 1-6, 2-6 sets to New Canaan's Andrew Penchuk and Alexander Merjian for their semifinal matchup.
No. 6-ranked Pace and Weinreb also had a free pass in the first round, which they followed up by defeating Johnny Baisinger and Sarthak Bothra of Ludlowe (6-2, 6-0) and Darien's Bradley D'Alelio and Tyler Hatfield (6-1, 6-1), although the two took a 6-3, 4-6, 8-10 loss facing Jack Mappa and Kevin Mercado from Warde.
"Andrew and Kyle just grinded it out. Both were singles players before, so as the season went through, I moved guys around, and they started to put it together," said Fagerquist. "They know how to dig it out. Pace and Weinreb, too, are the complete package. They are scrappy and a good defensive team, but can also close it out. They give 500 percent and are mighty. They are one mind and just click when they play."
Finally, Nelson and Rogers were victors (6-1, 6-0) over Edy Gomez and Steven Kennedy of Platt, and then against RHAM's Chris McCormack and Eric O'Loughlin (6-2, 6-3) prior to bowing out versus top-seeded Connor Doyle and Alex Slobin of Ludlowe (3-6, 2-6).
"It's a weird feeling, because we go into each season a little different, and I didn't know how deep we actually were as a team," said Fagerquist. "As a coach I try to keep everything into perfection, but at some point, the streak will come to come end. But I want the boys to feel good about their opportunities they are given. Records are to be broken, and we've already broken them with back-to-back wins. We knew Warde and Ludlowe were just as good as us, but with determination from the boys, we succeeded."