Port Washington girls tennis team blanks Great Neck North in county championship

Robert Pelaez
The Port Washington Varsity Girls Tennis team embraces after clinching their second county title in the past three years. (Photo by Rob Pelaez)

The girls tennis team at Schreiber High School in Port Washington won its second county championship in the last three years, beating Great Neck North High 7-0 last Friday to cap an undefeated season.

The team also went undefeated for most of last season, until a loss to Hewlett ended its season in the county semi-finals.

“They just had a really good day last year,” Port Washington coach Shane Helfner said. “We knew how good we were, but to come in here and finish what we started last year. It feels great, and I’m happy for the girls.”

The Vikings of Port Washington beat Hewlett this year in the semi-finals before dismantling the Blazers of Great Neck North on Friday.  Headlined by senior captain Charlotte Forman, the Vikings were able to win their 49th match in the last 50 attempts.

“I just felt like I was in the zone,” Forman, who played first doubles, said. “When that happens, you have this mentality of knowing you’re not going to lose this game or match.”

Forman and Dasha Perfiliev were able to beat their counterparts from Great Neck 6-0, 7-5 in straight sets.  Their final point came at the end of an extensive rally, capped off with a cross-court laser from Perfiliev that gave the team the winning advantage.

Though the Vikings swept the Blazers in total matches won, Helfner noted that the final score is not always the best indicator.

“They are a great team, and it certainly showed today,” he said. “Just like our previous two matches with them this year, they may have only had one match won, but individually, those girls play hard, and are coached extremely well.”

Thea Rabman, a freshman who has been playing on the team since seventh grade, came back from losing the first set to win the next two against her first singles counterpart.

“I think she got off to a stronger start than usual,” Rabman said. “It kind of got to me so I made sure I was more consistent in the second set. I knew I needed to push through to get my team up.”

Of the 15 girls on the team, six are seniors, four are freshmen, and one is in eighth grade. None of the top three singles players are sophomores or above, including eighth-grader Andrea Martinez de los Rios.  All three made it to the state tournament in Albany earlier in the season.

The Vikings will look to extend their win streak to 18 against Westhampton on Wednesday at the Hamlet Club in Commack for the Long Island championship.

“What I love most is that we started a new streak this year,” Helfner said. “I think that we learned most from last year was that anything can happen on a given day.”

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