Ambrosio leads Cold Spring Harbor to LI tennis title
Eric Ambrosio of Cold Spring Harbor gets set to return a shot in his 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over Half Hollow Hills East. (May 26, 2010) Credit: George A. Faella
It was one of those days where you remember that nothing beats water. It was one of those hot, humid afternoons when you're more than grateful that someone long ago decided to plant shady trees just outside the tennis courts at Smithtown East.
And on this kind of afternoon, with the Long Island championship already sewn up for Cold Spring Harbor, spectators and competitors alike took refuge under those trees from that heat to watch the match of the day.
And in the third hour of the match, Eric Ambrosio finally beat Zain Ali, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, in second singles to put the exclamation point on Cold Spring Harbor's 6-1 championship victory over Half Hollow Hills East (20-1). It's the third consecutive Long Island championship for the Seahawks (16-0).
Ambrosio and Ali each placed third in their respective county individual championships.
"The first set I don't think I really came firing out of the gate and I think I underestimated him a bit," Ambrosio said. "In the second set I started to get used to him and started to pick up my game. I started to expect better shots from him than I did in the first set, and I was more ready for his good shots."
The teams started at 4 p.m. under a modified heat alert, courtesy of temperatures in excess of 90 degrees. The alert meant longer stops and water breaks for the athletes.
But despite the less than ideal conditions, Cold Spring Harbor took a quick 3-0 lead, winning the first, third and fourth singles matches within 90 minutes. But after Hills East's Evan Siedman and Sam Goldberg took their third doubles match, 7-5, 6-4, an easy Cold Spring Harbor victory seemed in doubt. Ambrosio and Ali split their first two matches, and the first and second doubles teams each split their first two as well.
Enter a pair of eighth graders, Jon Paris and Conor Mullin, who shook off a 4-6 first set to rebound 6-1, 6-3 in second doubles, and in the process clinching the title for Cold Spring Harbor.
"We made sure we got a lot more returns in and we threw up a lot more lobs in the last two," Paris said. "We noticed they were getting close to the net and we took advantage."
Hot or not, Cold Spring Harbor kept its cool.
