Southampton's Dubin regains confidence
Southampton's Jeremy Dubin still replays the points in his head. Those five match points in the second set of the May 20 Suffolk final against Whitman's Brandon Stone that slipped away.
Dubin fell in three sets, while Stone earned the most improbable of county titles.
Thirteen days later, Dubin got back in the groove with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Beekmantown's Mark Price in the first round of the NYSPHSAA boys tennis state championships at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.
He will play Webster Schroeder's Matt Gamble in the round of 16, which begins a 8 a.m. Friday.
And in winning, he exorcised some of those county final demons. "It's a relief because I had bad dreams and memories after that match because I had opportunities," Dubin said. "I'm confident again."
Stone, however, lost his first-round match to Francis Lewis' Daniel Lakhman, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-3. He had a 5-2 lead in the second set before losing four straight games.
Cold Spring Harbor's Josh Levine, the second seed, beat Bethlehem's Josh Jachuck, 6-2, 6-1. Levine took second at this tournament last year and is perhaps Long Island's best chance for a state title.
"This whole environment, it's just good to go out there and get the first match under your belt," Levine said.
Garden City's Zach Morris moved on with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 4 Christopher Frost of Niskayuna, and Farmingdale's Brendan Henry advanced with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Webster Thomas' Andrew Mason.
Hills East freshman Zain Ali was upended by Albany Academy's Stefan Kuhar, 7-6 (4), 6-4. The Sachem East doubles tandem of Jason Quintana and Dylan Quintana lost to No. 1 Ben Fife and Austin Kaplan of Scarsdale, 6-1, 7-5.
The Hills East doubles team of Chris Hunter and Eric Bertuglia beat Niskayuna's Erwin Lin and Brendan Service, 6-1, 6-1. Last year, the duo made the second round before losing a third-set tiebreaker that cost them a quarterfinal berth.
"We're not going to lose in a third-set tiebreak again," Hunter said. "So we're looking forward to quarterfinals, semifinals, finals. Maybe a state championship sort of thing for our awards ceremony back home."
