Taking the lead role

Commack's Dean, Hauppauge Hanson get off to fast start

By JEFF GOLD | Newsday Staff Writer

July 27, 2007

The status is irrelevant. It's the superior competition they seek. For Commack's Zach Dean and Hauppauge's Katherine Hanson, the most important thing is to play the toughest opponent possible.

That doesn't usually happen during their high school tennis seasons. Dean plays No. 2 singles and Hanson alternates between No.1 and No. 2.

Dean and Hansen, both outstanding players, happen to play for high school teams with an extraordinary No. 1 singles player. Dean plays behind Bryan Roberts at Commack and Hanson splits time with Jen Kellner at Hauppauge. Both would likely play exclusively at No. 1 singles on virtually any other high school team on Long Island.

At the Empire State Games, Dean and Hanson are each getting their shot to be the unquestioned No. 1 player for their team.

"I definitely prefer playing one to number two because the opponents are better," Dean said. "If I could play two and play people who are at my level or better, I'd like that more than just playing one and running over everyone. I don't really care about winning so long as I improve and get better. I just want the experience of tight matches."

Said Hanson: "It isn't frustrating playing second singles. It's frustrating playing people who aren't at my level."

Dean had a solid start to the Empire State Games Thursday and Hanson was perfect. Dean defeated Karthik Rajasethupathy, 6-2, 0-6, 10-4 (super tiebreaker) in his first match before falling to Elliot Fanshel, 1-6, 6-1, 10-5 (super tiebreaker) in his second match.

Hanson trounced both her opponents, defeating Miranda Podlas, 6-1, 6-1, and then beating Diana Lorentz, 6-4, 6-1 to start the Games with a 2-0 record.

The LI boys team dropped 4-1 decisions to the Western Region and to Hudson Valley. The LI Girls team is 1-1. It beat the Western Region 4-1 before losing 4-1 to the Hudson Valley.

"I'm definitely enjoying the experience of playing here. I just hate the no-ad scoring and the super tiebreaker instead of a real third set," said Dean, who is 5-8, 135 pounds. "A strength of my game is fitness. I like to be able to grind people down."

Dean's stamina is tremendous in large part due to his years of running cross country. About to head into his junior year, Dean was going to be one of Commack's top runners and captains. But with his eyes set on a tennis scholarship, he recently decided to concentrate exclusively on tennis.

"It was a tough decision because I didn't want to disappoint the team, but I decided to give my tennis a shot," Dean said. "If you want to be great and not just good, you have to train at that. You can't split it two ways and expect the same results from both. I used to have seven months to improve at tennis. Now I will have 12."

As for Hanson, she used a powerful serve and a strong baseline game to dictate the play in both matches.

"I played pretty well this morning," she said. "I powered through the first opponent. My serve was really on. I had some longer points in the second match, but I got through."

Hanson was a silver medalist individually last summer and was part of the gold medal-winning team two summers ago.

"It's fun to play here. I like coming and representing the region," she said.

"Katherine always managers to rearrange her USTA tournament schedule to play here because she loves this so much," said girls coach Nicole Bove.

She's hoping to go out with two gold medals in her last year.

"That would be great," she said. "We have a much stronger team than last year."

And if it happens, she'll be the one leading the way at the top spot.