North Babylon teammates to face off in Division II tournament

When top-seeded Lynus Fortaleza looks across the net on Monday during the final of the Suffolk Division II tennis tournament on Monday at East Islip he’s going to see a familiar face.

He’ll be facing off against teammate and No. 2 seed Tyree Grimsley. It's the first time in school history teammates from North Babylon will be competing against each other in the finals, according to head coach Mario Fiore.

Both sophomores, Fiore said he expected a lot out of his top two players but couldn’t have envisioned they would be the top two seeds in the Division tournament.

“Tyree is more of a power player and Lynus is more technical,” Fiore said. “They're best friends and they compete against each other and their styles always make close matches.”

After Monday one of them will be the Division II champion.

East Islip, which finished 11-1 and won the League III regular season championship, has both doubles finalists. Top-seeded Matt Croce and Matt Talamo will face second-seeded Kevin Nowakowski and Owen Hegarty.