Defending Champ Josh Levine Advances to 2012 State Semis

June 1, 2012 | By Kristen Maggio

On Friday, June 1, the second and third rounds of the 2012 NYSPHSAA Boys Tennis Championships were played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. In singles play, the top seed and defending NYSPHSAA Boys Tennis Champ Josh Levine of Cold Spring Harbor got a small scare before defeating Christian Waldron of Beacon, 1-6, 6-0, 6-1. Levine then defeated eighth-seeded Matt Gamble in the quarterfinals in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the semis. Levine will now face the number four seed, Taiya Hamanaka of Eastchester, who defeated Walt Whitman’s Brandon Stone in the quarterfinals.

Levine is one of the three singles players from Long Island headed to the semifinals.

On the bottom half of the draw, Vihar Shah from Herricks played Stefan Kuhar of Albany Academy and Austin Kaplan of Scarsdale on Day Two and defeated both in straight sets to advance to the semis.

"I’m excited to win and advance to the semifinals, but I did have to call my mom and get final permission to try to win because I am skipping the SATs to play tomorrow," said Shah.

In the semifinals, Shah will meet fellow Long Islander Andrew Yaraghi of Friends Academy. Yaraghi defeated Matt Nardella of Christian Brothers Academy in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, and then defeated the only female competitor in the draw, Quinn Gleason of Honeoye Falls-Lima High School, 6-1, 6-4.

Zain Ali of Half Hollow Hills East lost a tough second round match against Matt Gamble of Webster Schroeder High School, 4-6, 2-6.

In doubles play, the top-seeded team from Long Beach, Matt Barry & Ethan Bogard advanced to the semifinals, defeating fellow Long Islanders Jeremy Schnapp & Alex Riccuti of Half Hollow Hills East 6-3, 6-1, and then won their quarterfinals match against Matthew Balilo & Marcus Smith of Benjamin Cardoza, 6-0, 6-2. Austin Davidow & Alex Sacher and the team of John Sipala & Cooper Lacetera, both of of Westhampton Beach, both won their second round matches and were involved in tough quarterfinal matches as we went to print.

The 2012 NYSPHSAA Boys Tennis Championships semifinals begin tomorrow morning, June 2 at 8:15 a.m. and the finals begin shortly afterwards at 11:00 a.m. at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Andrew Yaraghi of Friends Academy during his 6-0, 6-2 win against Matt Nardella of Christian Brothers Academy 

 

 

Vihar Shah from Herricks defeated Stefan Kuhar of Albany Academy to advance to the semifinals of the 2012 NYSPHSAA Boys Tennis Championships

 

 


Kristen Maggio
Intern, Long Island Tennis Magazine

 Kristen Maggio is an intern with Long island Tennis Magazine. She may be reached by e-mail at maggio@litennismag.com.

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