Thursday’s Section II doubles championship tennis match at Sportime proved to be a perfect conclusion to a great week for Guilderland.
After beating Bethlehem 5-4 in the Class A team finals May 16, the Dutchmen landed both of their doubles teams in the Sectional final, which automatically qualified both of them for next week’s state tournament. The duo of Erick Kopff and Alex Fedorov defeated the team of Michael Zhu and Bill Dong 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).
Kopff — the lone senior on the court — reached the Sectional doubles final last year with a different partner. Fedorov, Zhu and Dong all experienced their first championship match.
`To play in the finals again is a great experience,` said Kopff. `You just want to have fun with it.`
Zhu and Dong were a surprise entry in the finals. The duo was unseeded entering Sectionals, but they fought their way through a tough top half of the bracket to make it to the championship round.
`It’s a really big deal because we weren’t seeded in Sectionals, and this is the first time we’ve played doubles together,` said Zhu.
`I knew they’d play well, and they got some breaks along the way — especially when the top seed (Bethlehem’s Nick DeLuke and Nick Mashuta) lost in the third round,` said Guilderland coach Curtis Snyder.
The No. 2-seeded team of Kopff and Fedorov looked like they had the match well in hand when they built a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Zhu and Dong won the next four games to take a 6-5 lead. Kopff and Fedorov won the next game to force a tiebreaker, where they pulled away with four consecutive points.
Kopff said he and Fedorov approached the final against their teammates like any other match they played.
`We just tried to treat them the same way as any other team we face,` said Kopff. `We treat them with respect, and we try to win the match.`
Snyder couldn’t approach the match the same way, though. He stayed off the court while his two doubles teams battled each other.
`It’s pretty bizarre because you could always go out there and tell one team what to do and what the other team’s weaknesses are, but that would be unfair to the other team because it’s your team, too,` said Snyder.
Thursday’s doubles final also summed up where the Guilderland boys tennis team is and where it might be for the next three years. Three of the four players involved in the final were freshmen, and they represented a class of six players who are primed to lead the Dutchmen through 2016.
`The future is definitely bright,` said Kopff.
`We can only improve from here,` added Fedorov.
Bethlehem’s Rohin Bose reached the Sectional singles final for the second year in a row, but the senior could not capture the title as Doane Stuart’s Lars Olson defeated him 6-1, 6-0.
`Lars just got a lot better, and I obviously didn’t play well,` said Bose. `He deserved it.`
Still, Bose will be getting another trip to the National Tennis Center in Queens for next week’s state tournament.
`Playing where the pros play (for the U.S. Open) is always nice,` said Bose.