Bogard-Barry win Nassau doubles title

Long Beach's doubles pair of Ethan Bogard and Matt Barry didn't play together during the regular season, but they still had a plan of attack as they teamed up for the postseason.

The lack of time together on the court didn't show Sunday as the second-seeded duo upended No. 1 Austin Davidow and Alex Sacher of North Shore. 6-2, 6-3. to win the Nassau County doubles championship at Oceanside High School.

"During the season, we played singles," Bogard said. "We actually haven't played much doubles, but we're both pretty aggressive players."

Bogard and Barry were both masterful in their ability to get to the net to thwart the volley and returns of Davidow and Sacher.

"When they were both on the baseline, we wanted to get to the net pretty quickly so we could get the volleys short and play it deep for them," Barry said. "It was an aggressive game plan."

Both doubles teams qualified for the state tournament at the U.S. Tennis Center in Flushing beginning May 29.

Davidow and Sacher qualified following their 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Syosset's Kevin Katz and Ian Baranowski earlier in the day in a semifinal.

"We had some fundamental problems, like getting to the net before the other team. They were more in synch than us," Sacher said. "We have to work on working more as a team and getting to the net before the other team does."

Katz and Baranowski recovered later and qualified for the state tournament after defeating Cold Spring Harbor's Jonathan Paris and Conor Mullins in the third-place match, 6-2, 7-5.

In the singles, top-seeded Josh Levine of Cold Spring Harbor won the county championship by beating second-seeded Andrew Yaraghi of Friends, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It's the second straight county title for Levine, who is also the defending state champ.

Although the match went only two sets, Levine said it wasn't easy playing against his good friend Yaraghi.

"I play with him every Tuesday night," Levine said. "He and I take a lesson together. I know his game well and he knows my game well, so I knew it was going to be a tough one."

Levine took a 4-1 lead in the first set, but Yaraghi made it close, winning the next two games. It was a similar scenario in the second set as Levine led 3-1, but needed all of his strength to hold off Yaraghi.

"He knows what I'm going to do and I know what he's going to do," Yaraghi said. "It's like playing myself pretty much."

Both players qualified for the state tournament.

Herricks' Vihar Shah was the third singles player to qualify for Nassau after beating Farmingdale's Brandon Henry, 6-4, 6-0, in the third-place match.