Ross School's Eduardo Menezes captures Suffolk boys tennis title, qualifies for state championship
Eduardo Menezes of the Ross School competes against Bryan Volk of Half Hollow Hills West in the Suffolk boys tennis championships at Smithtown East on Monday. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
The arrival of Eduardo Menezes on the high school tennis scene seemed certain to cause a splash. Right now those ripples are looking more like a tidal wave that might carry the Ross School senior to a state singles championship.
Menezes continued his domination at the Suffolk County Individual Championships on Monday where he turned in what he called his “best performance of the high school season.” Menezes overcame another gritty performance by Half Hollow Hills West’s Bryan Volk to earn a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the championship match at Smithtown East High School.
Menezes came to the United States from Florianopolis, Brazil. Last season he was viewed as a transfer student and was required to sit out the high school tennis season under state rules. In his first season of high school tennis, he hasn’t lost a match and neither has Ross, which hosts the winner of Port Jefferson/Glenn in a Suffolk small school semifinal on Wednesday.
“I looked forward to playing high school tennis and it’s been super exciting,” said Menezes, who is committed to play Division I tennis at Texas-Rio Grande Valley. “It’s so much fun to be a part of it and watch your teammates win.”
The top-seeded Menezes lost only 11 games in the five victories to earn the title and made a strong case to the be the No. 1 seed for the state individual championships that begin on May 31 at the National Tennis Center in Queens.
“Playing in the state tournament is going to be filled with amazing opportunities for me,” Menezes said. “I want to be playing the best I can because it’s a long journey to win a state championship. . . Beating a warrior like Bryan can only make me better.”
Volk fell behind almost as quickly as Menezes’ other foes and trailed 5-2. But the skilled and resourceful senior broke serve and then held his own to get back within 5-4 before Menezes served out the first set.
“My mindset was to show him I am not going away,” Volk said. “I wasn’t intimidated and I wasn’t going to give him anything. I was going to make him beat me.”
“[Menezes] is an all-around monster,” he added. “He hits hard and heavy and deep. And he has a mental toughness that’s hard to go up against.”
Mount Sinai’s Juan Perez beat Ward Melville Robbie Monticciolo, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1, in the third place match. He joins Menezes and Volk as the Suffolk qualifiers for the state tourney.
Commack's Yu, Benderly win doubles title
Every feat by the Commack doubles team of senior James Yu and junior Eric Benderly seems to top the last.
In the county semifinals, they won a three-set marathon against 2023 runners up Bobby Stabile and Giancarlo Volpe of Westhampton. And on Monday, they took down Ward Melville’s top-seeded entry of senior Harshith Pennabadi and Shashank Pennabadi with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory in the title match.
Yu and Benderly trailed 5-2 in the second set before staging an exhilarating comeback.
“When we started to make the comeback, they got very tight and missed some shots they would usually make,” Benderly said. “And the way we [orchestrated] our comeback was just a master class in doubles.”
Yu and Benderly, the Pennabadi brothers and the Ross School tandem of Leonardo Carmo and Henry Tietz, which beat Stabile and Volpe, 6-4, 6-2, in the third place match, all qualified for the state tournament. This will be Yu’s third trip with his third different partner.
“Playing with Eric makes this trip different,” Yu said. “The other two times were great but I didn’t expect to go far. Eric’s abilities as a tennis player make us capable of a deep run.”
Benderly described their first few matches together as “shaky,” but Yu said “we started to see who did what better and we’ve gone with that ever since.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
