Long Beach serves up success

With a youthful roster consisting of 10 juniors and a couple of talented freshmen, it took a little time for Long Beach’s girls’ tennis team to get into the swing of things.

After dropping three of their first five matches against Conference III-B rivals, the Lady Marines have won five of seven including three by the narrowest of margins. As a result, they carried a record of 7-5 into the final week of the regular season.

“We lost 12 seniors from last year and brought just one starter back,” coach Tony Stricklin said. “The girls who came up from JV deserve a lot of credit. They’ve gone from playing one 9-game set to sometimes three sets. Everyone has made a huge improvement since the start of practice.”

Long Beach turned the table on MacArthur on Oct. 10, taking the second meeting between the teams by a 5-2 margin after coming up short in the first meeting, 4-3, three weeks earlier. Freshman Tamiyah Massey moved up in the lineup and won in straight sets at third singles to highlight the victory, Stricklin said. “I just told her to go out there and have fun,” he said.

Since losing at MacArthur on Sept. 17, the Lady Marines have visited the win column against every opponent except first-place East Meadow. Juniors Sydney Sharpe and Samantha Gesuale won in straight sets at third doubles to provide the difference in a 4-3 victory over Valley Stream North on Sept. 19. Three days later, the tandem rallied from down a set to outlast Farmingdale’s Rebecca Hasseth and Kris Court as Long Beach pulled out a 4-3 decision.

“Doubles is about chemistry, and they’ve got the right communication between them,” Stricklin said of Sharpe and Gesuale, who also prevailed in three sets to help lead a 4-3 triumph over Valley Stream South on Oct. 6.

After Sharpe and Gesuale deadlocked the match against South, the last remaining court saw Long Beach’s No. 1 doubles tandem of junior Micah Navera and freshman Danielle Breen take a hard-fought, three-set match against Emily Chen and Fatima Mozawalla, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Stricklin said Navera, the team’s only returning starter, and Breen have felt comfortable with each other since the early going. “They’re both competitive kids,” he said. “Micah’s aggressive at the net, and Danielle has consistent strokes. It worked out well.”

Massey usually joins junior captain Kristen Koff to form a winning combination at second doubles, while juniors Samantha Lassman and Solomiya Sotnik are holding their own at fourth doubles.

Junior Alexa Levin leads the Lady Marines at singles. She hits hard and features a strong first serve. Junior Haley Lynch, a captain, and junior Lynzie Smith, know how to wear down opponents at second and third singles, respectively. Lynch earned a big victory against Farmingdale.