The Rye Boys Tennis team found some success last weekend during the Individual Sectional Tournament, with five athletes advancing to play in round three on Sunday. Although no Garnets ended up winning first place, their top singles player Luke Gordon and top two doubles teams of Grant Lobo-Alex Gordon and Lou Kim-Reuter-Filip Glitterstam all earned the right to play at least one match on day two. Both doubles pairs claimed All-Section honors for their performances.
“Rye had a big weekend filled with tennis,” Head Coach Sue Dickson told MyRye.com. “Section 1 has some of the very best teams in New York, and Rye’s players are definitely in the mix.”
Singles
The Garnets sent three singles players to the tournament: Luke Gordon, Xavier Morell, and Tayga Vural. Gordon earned a bye to Sunday thanks to his excellent regular season. There, he fell in heartbreaking fashion to Tappan Zee’s Robert Patrouniak 6-7 (7-3), 3-6. “The points were long and the match was competitive,” Dickson said of the high-profile matchup.
Morell lost 1-6, 3-6 in his first game at the tournament. Fatigue may have played a factor for the eighth grader, who played in a separate tournament just a few days prior. Vural played under the lights on Saturday night and lost in a super tiebreaker 6-1, 3-6 (10-4) after a very strong start.
Doubles
As has been the case most of the year, Rye shined in the doubles side of the action. Alongside the top two duos, third doubles Timothy Morell and Marcos Becker competed on Saturday, crusing past their first round opponent 6-2, 6-2, but falling in their second match of the day to Mamaroneck.
The top pairing of Lobo and A. Gordon won against Ardsley 6-2, 6-1, then Mamaroneck 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, then Scarsdale 6-3, 6-0, to advance to Sunday’s quarterfinals. Their first matchup on day two was a close defeat, 3-6, 4-6 to the number one seed. “The points were so exciting, fast, clever, well planned, and it was one of the best matches despite their loss,” Dickson said of Lobo and Gordon’s performance in the quarters.
The second doubles team of sophomores Kim-Reuter and Glitterstam eased past Pleasantville in round one, 6-1, 6-0. In their second game on Saturday, the duo was even cleaner, disregarding Harrison 6-0, 6-0. They played their third round game on Sunday morning and forged a huge comeback against Edgemont, winning 3-6, 6-4 (11-9) in one of the closest games of the entire weekend for any team. Their magic ended in the quarterfinals later that day in a 3-6, 0-6 defeat to #2-seeded Clarkstown South.
Both Doubles 1 and 2 earned All-Section honors, individual medals, and a special photo opportunity for their Saturday success.
The last event for Dickson and her team in 2025 is the team sectional tournament, which is comung up next weekend – Saturday, May 17-Sunday, May 18.
