Syosset ruled LI girls tennis champ

Syosset captured its third consecutive Long Island tennis championship after after Section XI (Suffolk) athletics coordinator Ed Cinelli ruled Wednesday that Half Hollow Hills East had forfeited the match by leaving the court over a procedural dispute.

The teams were assembled at Cold Spring Harbor High School Tuesday for the title matches when Hills East coach Tom Depelteau took his team off the courts after an hour-long dispute with Syosset coach Larry Levane over starting lineups.

The controversy stemmed from differing interpretations of Rule 6 of the Section VIII Girls Tennis Rules for 2011.
The rule reads: “Coaches must rank the three singles players in rank order and the four doubles teams in rank order . . . The spirit of the Frozen Roster is to avoid unethical stacking. Therefore coaches must encourage their best players to play singles.”

Depelteau said he had planned to play his best four players at first and second doubles, and split his usual third- and fourth-doubles teams to play in the three singles matches.

His strategy, he said, was to focus on doubles instead of singles because the teams were going to play under Nassau’s dual-match format, which consists of four doubles matches and three singles matches. By winning only the doubles matches, a team could win the overall dual-match, 4-3.

Levane said he believed this violated Rule 6 and was an example of “unethical stacking.” However, Depelteau argued that the rule left room for coaches to play their best players at doubles because it only “encourages” them to play singles and does not make it a requirement.

Suffolk girls tennis coordinator Pete Cesare and Nassau girls tennis coordinator Shai Fisher told Newsday they would meet to tighten the rules in hopes of avoiding future disputes.
 

SEE PHOTOSGirls tennis championship ends in dispute