Port Washington's incredible run ends in girls tennis state final loss
Port Washington’s Dasha Perfiliev plays against Scarsdale’s Natalie Hu during the state girls tennis final at USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing on Nov. 4, 2022. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The eight seniors on the Port Washington girls tennis team brought it full circle on Friday at the National Tennis Center in Queens.
Many of them were freshmen on the 2019 squad that won its way to the last possible match of the season and ultimately captured the Long Island championship. Now seniors, they again reached the campaign’s ultimate game by winning a morning semifinal over Clarence in the state Large Schools team championship tournament.
This time, they did not win that last match as Scarsdale rolled to a 7-0 win to complete a 19-0 season to capture its second straight state crown. But after an uneven regular season, playing in the final contest was an undeniable achievement.
“It took longer than usual to figure out a lineup and we lost some games we expected to win, but they came up big and put a nice bookend on their careers with the 2019 season,” Port Washington coach Shane Helfner said. “Our program is what it is because of this senior class.”
“In every [postseason] match, we didn’t want it to be our final game and we got to the final game,” Gaby Sorin said. “There are no more games after today. We knew this would be the last one and so it felt like we had nothing to lose.”
When it was over the eight seniors stood in the home of the U.S. Open and posed for a last photo. They are Dasha Perfiliev, Ellie Ross, Katie Kors, Grace Ain, Sorin, Chloe Fanous, Isabella Dibner and Sammi Epp.
Ross and eighth-grader Evie Loewy won their semifinal matches in straight sets. So did the doubles entries of Sorin and Juliana Johnson, Fanous and Christiana Kent and Dibner and Yasmin Munoz. Kors and Ain prevailed in a marathon, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1).
Perfiliev was scintillating for long stretches during the championship match before falling at first singles to Natalie Hu, 4-6, 6-2, 5-7.
This finish looked improbable when Port Washington closed the regular season losing three of four. “You couldn’t expect anything out of us," Ain said, "because we were a real wild card — in a wacky regular season we were never sure what we’d get."
But as Munoz said, “We had a win over [top-seeded] Syosset so we knew something special was possible.”
Added Kors: “When you know it’s your last time together, the wins feel more special.”
And Ross: “We might have lost more this season than in all our other seasons combined and even the wins were pretty close. I’ll take a Long Island championship and reaching the state final over every other ending.”
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.
