Port Washington girls tennis team takes home Long Island Championship

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — The Schreiber High School Varsity Girls Tennis team brightened the holidays for many in town after being crowned Nassau County champions on Oct. 25 at Eisenhower Park. Then, the girls team took it even one step further winning the Long Island championship on Nov. 1 at Casamento Park in Bay Shore. This marks the third time in six years Port Washington earned Long Island tennis champion accolades.

The team then got the opportunity to advance to play the New York State Team Championship on Nov. 4 at the U.S. National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, site of the US Open. There, Port Washington defeated Clarence 6-1 in the New York State semifinal, before finally succumbing to Scarsdale in the New York State final.

Port Washington finished an incredible second overall in New York State.

“Overall, an amazing season. County champions. Long Island champions. And second in all of New York State. It was an incredible season!” varsity tennis Head Coach Shane Helfner, who also teaches band at Schreiber High School, told Port Washington Living.

Regarding Nassau County, Port Washington plays in Conference 1, which is based on ability and comprises the top eight teams in Nasau County. There, Syosset is often Port Washington’s toughest opponent.

“There has been a huge rivalry between us and Syosset. They have a great program and a really good coach,” stated Shane, who also teaches band at Schreiber High School, told Port Washington Living. “We have had epic battles that usually come down to one court. We won in 2017, they won in 2018, we won 2019, and they beat us in 2020 and 2021 in really close 4-3 scores. We beat them 4-3 this year. It is a lot of fun. The girls will look back and remember the matches we won of course, but also how much fun each match was.”

Nassau County tennis tournaments involve three singles matches and four doubles matches. To win the Nassau County title this year, Port Washington won all three singles matches, as well as its first doubles match, while losing the other three doubles matches.

In the Long Island championship, Port Washington took on Harborfields, and came out victorious following a convincing 6-1 victory.

This year’s team comprised 20 girls, who played 14 regular season matches and four rounds of playoffs. Members of this year’s championship team consists of eight seniors, as well as two girls in middle school. In fact, the deciding match was won by an eighth grader in singles.

“I am extremely proud of the girls this year, especially the seniors, who got to ‘bookend’ their championships,” Shane noted. “It felt really gratifying to know they got one more title before they graduated.”

Championship tennis players this year were:

First singles: Dasha Perfiliev (12th grade)

Second singles: Ellie Ross (12th grade)

Third singles: Evie Loewy (eighth grade)

First doubles: Katie Kors (12th grade) and Grace Ain (12th grade)

Second doubles: Gaby Sorin (12th grade) and Juliana Johnson (ninth grade)

Third doubles: Chloe Fanous (12th grade) and Christiana Kent (eighth grade)

Fourth doubles: Yasmeen Munoz (11th grade) and Isabelle Dibner (12th grade)

Alternates were: Goldie Abrahams, Ruby Ader, Isabella Blickley, Lindsay Caslow, Samantha Epp, Olivia Gade, Ellie Hattem, Natalie Joa and Jemma Lee.

“We have had a great run during the past six years. We also won the Long Island championship in 2017 and 2019. In the past six years, we have been to the county championship five times,” Shane said. “We have built a powerhouse program for sure.”

Shane has taught varsity girls since 2015. Originally from Commack, he previously coached the tennis team there beginning in 2009. When asked what makes the Port Washington girls tennis team so successful, he points to setting high expectations early in the year, including how practices are to be run, what the team wants to strive to be, and improving from the beginning to the end of the season.

“Once girls got a taste of success in 2017, they set the bar really high. It kept everyone motivated and hungry for more. The success pushes them to be the best we can be,” Shane stressed. “Many of our seniors were on the 2019 team, so they know what it takes and how hard it is to win.

“My biggest thing in championship matches is to not focus so much on the score but to try to play good tennis. I always find the winning will take care of itself. I want them to focus on hitting the right shot in the right spot,” Shane continued. “The other aspect is we had a really tough 4-3 loss last year against Syosset. We were ahead in that match and let it slide unfortunately. So, we talked a lot this year about being mentally tough in those situations. We wanted to make sure the players were thinking positively with high energy all the time, no matter how stressful the situation is.”

In addition to the team tournaments, two Port Washington girls played in an individual tournament in Schenectady, N.Y., advancing to the state championship in doubles, Shane announced.

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