North Shore nets winning record

North Shore’s boys’ tennis program finished this season winning 3 of its last 5 matches games and successfully attained the winning year it was looking for.

Following a campaign in 2016 where the Vikings finished 2-11, they rallied around a solid core of players and great coaching to lock up an 8-6 record this spring.  

Within the Nassau II-A Conference, there is a variety of strong and talented clubs lingering amongst the top of the standings. Manhasset and Wheatley, two teams filed by great tennis talents, sat among the top of the conference for nearly the entire season . Manhasset, finishing with only one loss on the season, took home the regular season crown. Wheatley finished at a solidly near second.

On April 7, North Shore walked into opponent territory at the Wheatley School, at that point holding a 2-1 record early on in the season. Just a short time later, North Shore had been on the bus ride home, boasting a 5-2 sets victory.

Rajan Vohra played a key role at first singles this year, knocking off some important adversaries on North Shore’s way to securing some key victories. One said match was a midseason matchup against Garden City, where Vohra won his matchups 6-2 and 6-0 to decisively take away the first match for his squad.

For second doubles, Matt Zhakan and Henry Cohen were a staple as a doubles team, finding success as the No. 2 Doubles team for the Vikings. Against Manhasset on April 19, 2017, Zhakan and Cohen battled with Steve Salerno and Austin Lai in a back and forth battle, with an equal and steady 0 of a plus/minus differential throughout the first two matches.

Jagger Gillman and Blake Mandell also played key roles as No. 3 Doubles for North Shore. Gillman and Mandell were instrumental at nabbing the first win of the season for the Vikings, really gaining traction and propelling this team to a great start and on the right path.

Matt Zapken and Dhruv Ghandi were also integral in the team’s progression throughout the season, matching and linking up together as a doubles pairing on various occasions.

As far as trends go, the last time North Shore attained a winning season was in 2014, also finishing 8-6. However, two down years followed. This season, however, the trend looks to go in a different direction, as head coach Brian Kline looks to coach and mentor his players and especially underclassmen to step up and take the reigns and be the pillars for which this team looks to build upon for further success.

Next season, look for North Shore to start a trend yet again, however this time, one trending towards even better numbers in the win column. “We want to continue the idea of a true program, and get better one day at a time,” Kline said. “We have a program where kids come up through JV to Varsity and decide to partake in this tennis community.”