Dasha Perfiliev and Charlotte Forman put exclamation point on Port Washington's Nassau team title
Port Washington's Dasha Perfiliev, left, and Charlotte Forman check the competition in the doubles matches. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Everyone on the Port Washington girls tennis team waited more than a year for their moment.
When Charlotte Forman and Dasha Perfiliev closed their win at first doubles Friday afternoon at Eisenhower Park a roar of elation and some relief came from the team members watching on the sideline as it helped wipe away the sting of suffering their only loss in last year’s semifinals.
The win over Margaret Haykin and Katharine Tang clinched the Vikings second Nassau title in three years as they held off No. 2 Great Neck North, 7-0. It was top-seeded Port Washington’s 49th win in its last 50 matches.
Port Washington (17-0) moves on to the Long Island championship next week at the Hamlet Club in Commack against a yet-to-be-determined Suffolk opponent.
Forman and Perfiliev, who won 6-0, 7-5, fell behind 30-0 in the final service game before coming back to finish off the match.
“I was just so in the zone and when that happens you have the mentality that you’re not going to lose this point, not going to lose this game or match,” Forman said. “When you think about it that way it really helps you win.”
“Trust and friendship is important,” Perfiliev said. “We really complement each other.”
Of the seven matches Port Washington won, three either went to a clinching third set or involved a tiebreaker.
“This was a really close 7-0 match and I give a lot of credit to Great Neck North,” Port Washington coach Shane Helfner said. “They played great and they’re such a well coached team. The score was not indicative of what this match was.”
In a showcase match at first singles that featured two players who will be competing at the state tournament next week, Thea Rabman defeated Amy Delman, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“I think she got off to a stronger start than usual,” Rabman said. “It kind of got to me so I made sure I was more consistent in the second set. I knew I needed to push through to get my team up.”
Rabman had defeated Delman in the semifinals in the individual tournament last week.
“Thea had a tougher match today but the other girls stepped up,” Helfner said. “We’re not counting on certain girls and everyone steps up on different days and we know that and it’s contagious. The fact that we did get seven points just shows the depth that we have and how hard it is for a team to try and get points from us top to bottom.”
Gene Morris joined Newsday's sports department in September 2012 and covers high school sports. He earned a journalism degree from Stony Brook University in 2010.
