Boys tennis: Bronxville, Mamaroneck win 2024 Section 1 tennis team championships

HARRISON- Some familiar faces returned to Harrison High School on Thursday for the Section 1 team tennis finals. Bronxville and Scarsdale looked to repeat as Section 1 champs and emerged successful in their quest.

Bronxville took on Edgemont for the Section 1 Division II title, while Scarsdale took on their rival Mamaroneck in a Division I finals rematch. The winners would move on to regionals which would be on June 3 back at Harrison.

Bronxville repeats as Section 1 Division II champion

In a rematch of the 2022 semifinals, Bronxville faced Edgemont, this time for the Section 1 Division II title. The Broncos are coming off a successful campaign where they had won states last year and unseated reigning champ Byram Hills to win the section along the way as well.

They moved one step closer to competing for another state title after repeating as section champs. On Thursday, Bronxville quickly took care of Edgemont, sweeping them 3-0.

Bronxville dominated first and second doubles winning 6-0, 6-1 in both of those matches. Brothers Rhys and Harrison Brown defeated Harley Pfeffer and Bennett O’Reilly in second doubles. In first doubles, Rohan Bala and Maximus Monogenis defeated Simon Ascher and Samuel Meyer

“This section is a very tough section,” said junior Harrison Brown. “So now that we are through it, I think we have a nice chance at states. I think that was the toughest part of our schedule.”

To finish the sweep of Edgemont, Bronxville’s Jackson Fino defeated Henrique Dos Santos Branco in second singles, 6-0, 6-1, to give the Broncos their 2nd straight title.

Before the match ended, Patrick Kenny also was leading in first singles.

“It feels really good,” Bala said. “We have been here before, and to win it again feels really nice, and we're excited to try to win states again.

“I have been playing here for a while now. It’s really nice to see the team coming together and connecting in such a great way. We are definitely going to use that to our advantage to try and win states.

Mamaroneck’s unbelievable comeback to win the Section 1 Division I title

When pregame lineups were introduced, Scarsdale was determined, they were focused and clearly, they were ready to go. The match started that way for Scarsdale with a clean sweep of first, second and third doubles. The Raiders were now one win away from back-to-back section titles and they could feel it.

Up 7-1 in the 10-point third set super tiebreak, the Raiders needed three points to claim back to back titles.

However, the Tigers showed resilience showed resilience as Cortland Thompson-Fuess and Charlie Masse climbed all the way back to win in fourth doubles to keep their championship hopes alive.

Mamaroneck’s Jinyang Li who was third singles came back to win in his 3rd set super tie break as well. It was now 3-2, and it was down to first and second singles. For Mamaroneck, Maxim Kalinin, a Tulane commit, slammed the door on Sam Saeed to get the Tigers even at 3-3.

It was all down to Mamaroneck’s Owen Zerbib and Scarsdale’s Jack Reis. Zerbib was already up one set on Reis, but with a rollercoaster of a second set, Reis was able to force a second set tiebreak on Zerbib.

“I thought that there was nothing,” Zerbib said. “There is nothing much to think about other than the match. I just knew that it was all up to me. There were no excuses there. I had to do anything I could to stick with momentum as much as possible.”

In the tiebreak Zerbib delivered, helping cap off an incredible comeback for the Tigers while also securing Mamaroneck’s second title in three years.

“This means a lot,” Kalinin said. “We beat Scarsdale in the section finals when I was a sophomore but it means a lot more as a senior. Scarsdale is definitely one of the toughest teams in the section, if not the whole state, so beating them is a really good sign.”

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: lohud boys tennis: Bronxville, Mamaroneck win 2024 Section 1 team titles