Gelman, Levine advance to second-round showdown
Half Hollow Hills Nolan Gelman had an easy opening round against Conor Gach from Lake Placid winning 6-1, 6-1. (June 3, 2010) Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
While waiting for the final match of the day to end so they could take the bus back to the hotel, Nolan Gelman and Josh Levine stood just a few feet away from each other, periodically eyeballing one another like two heavyweights in the ring.
After toying with their respective opponents in the first round of the NYSPHSAA Boys Tennis State Championships Thursday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, the two will meet Friday in a second- round bout between two of Long Island's best.
Gelman, the Suffolk champion from Half Hollow Hills West, defeated Conor Gach of Lake Placid, 6-1, 6-1; Levine, the Nassau runner-up from Cold Spring Harbor, beat Paul Hayes of Minisink Valley High School, 6-3, 6-0.
Also advancing to the second round was Levine's teammate Eric Ambrosio, who defeated Jake Crawford of Clinton, 6-1, 6-0. Richard Sipala of the Ross School rallied after dropping the first set to defeat Tim Kane of Hamburg, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Half Hollow Hills East eighth-grader Zain Ali adjusted to the serve of Brighton's Yoni Zuckerman and won. 7-6, 6-4.
Nassau champion Zach Morris of Garden City, who was ranked third overall, was upset by Eric Halpern of Blind Brook, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
"I was inconsistent," Morris said. "I made a lot of unforced errors. It's really disappointing."
Nassau doubles champs Eric Rubin and Matt Barry of Long Beach defeated Bryan Matthews and Sawyer Dina of Orchard Park, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round of the doubles tournament. Nassau runners-up Jon DeFrancesch and Andrew Yaraghi of Friends Academy also advanced, defeating Hugh Mo and Roland John of Cardozo, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1. Farmingdale's Ignacio Casali and Brendan Henry beat Tyler Crill and Justin Levine of Monroe Woodbury, 6-0, 6-2.
Casali and Henry advanced to face East Islip's Kevin Serina and Nick Bauer, who rebounded from a missed opportunity to close out the match in the second set against Alex Bush and Evan Farina of Guilderland by dominating the third en route to a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 win.
Suffolk champs Chris Hunter and Eric Bertuglia of Hills East defeated Dominic and Jacob Parfianowicz of Elmira Free Academy, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Spencer Kuzon and seventh-grader Trippie Tuff of Ross were defeated by Julian Danko and Richard Shu of Pittsford Sutherland, 7-5, 6-0.
The second round and quarterfinals will be played Friday, beginning at 8 a.m., with Gelman versus Levine serving as Long Island's main event.
"He was the best in Suffolk," Levine said of Gelman. "If I were to beat him, it would be a big accomplishment."
"I know he's a good player," Gelman said of Levine. "Win or lose, I know it's going to be a battle."
