Hewlett nets a dozen wins

A “bulldog” in sports parlance is a player who shows no fear and routinely does anything necessary to ensure his team’s success. A bulldog is the guy who pitches a complete game or grabs 15 rebounds. A bulldog carries the ball on fourth-and-one. You can always rely on a bulldog, and you can’t win without one. Luckily coach Ron Remick and the Hewlett boys’ tennis team had their own bulldog in Dan Grinshteyn.

Grinshteyn, as Hewlett’s No. 1 singles player, regularly drew the best the opposition had to offer. As a result, his win-loss record was not as pretty as it could have been. Bulldogs aren’t supposed to be pretty, though, they’re just supposed to get the job done. Grinshteyn did. In match after match, he took on the other team’s ace and let his team’s superior depth take care of the rest. Hewlett went 11-1 in the regular season, took first place in Conference 1B and then defeated Great Neck North 4-2 in the Conference I semifinals. The Bulldogs season came to an end on May 18 with a 5-2 loss to Cold Spring Harbor, the Nassau County champs five years running.

“Our first goal was to make the playoffs,” Remick said. “Our second was to win the division. Our third was to win the first playoff round. We did all of that, and then we put up a good fight against Cold Spring Harbor.”

Grinshteyn, who will attend Boston University in the fall, was a big reason for the team’s success, but not the only reason. Senior Harrison Brenner, like Grinstein a four-year player, went 10-2 in singles competition and held down the No. 2 spot. Freshman Brandon Remer earned All-Division honors at third singles.

On the doubles side, the combinations of Saahil Brahmbatt and Stone Mitchell at No. 1, Andrew Bienstock and Daniel Kryzhapolsky at No. 2, Adam Troyetsky and Josh Stein at No. 3, and Perry Goffner and Mitch Partman at No. 4 all proved advantageous for the Bulldogs.

“We had to play well to win, and we were solid up and down the roster,” Remick said. 

Following a season-opening 5-2 win over Plainview-JFK, Hewlett lost for the only time in the regular season on April 3, 4-3 to Long Beach. On April 18 the Bulldogs started the winning streak that would earn them the division title, defeating Herricks 5-2. When they played Long Beach again on May 1, they turned the tables and won 5-2 behind Brahmbatt and Mitchell. They closed the regular season with wins over Friends Academy, Roslyn (twice) and Manhasset, then Bienstock and Kryzhapolsky clinched the playoff victory over Great Neck North with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 triumph.