Marines thriving under pressure

Everything is clicking so far this spring for Long Beach’s boys’ tennis team, which capped a perfect first half of the Conference I-B schedule with a thrilling 4-3 victory at Plainview-JFK on April 24.

“We’ve had a bunch of matches that could’ve gone either way,” coach Sue Hirschbein-Bodnar said after the Marines improved to 6-0 and matched their win total from 2011. “The team chemistry is tremendous,” she added. “The kids are so supportive of each other, and we get a lot of support from our athletic director [Arnie Epstein.] The Plainview match lasted more than three hours and everyone was there until the end.”

Paired together for the first time all year due to lineup shuffling, senior Andrew Schnier and junior Rubens Tavora outlasted Plainview’s Josh Goldstein and Yuval Solomon at first doubles, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to clinch the match. “They really gutted it out and won some amazing points,” Hirschbein-Bodnar said of Schnier and Tavora. “The rest of the team basically carried them off the court on their shoulders. It was so exciting.”

Long Beach played without its No. 1 player, senior Eric Rubin, but still managed to sweep the singles matches. Senior Matty Barry moved up a slot and won at first singles, junior Ethan Bogard prevailed at second singles, and senior Jonathan Smucker, Tavora’s usual partner at first doubles, got the job done at third singles in three sets.

It was the fourth time the Marines pulled out a victory by the narrowest of margins. They also beat Hewlett, Roslyn and Herricks by a 4-3 score. “There’s no easy opponent in this conference,” Hirschbein-Bodnar said. “We’ve done a great job in pressure situations.”

Long Beach has yet to lose a match at singles, where it returned all three starters from a year ago. Rubin, who is set to attend Columbia, and Barry, who is headed to Penn State, are similar in style and provide leadership to the younger players, Hirschbein-Bodnar said. “Eric and Matty are self-driven players who don’t beat themselves,” she said. “They’re students of the game and have a great respect for the game. They’re strong all-around players with big serves.”

Bogard, in line to become the No. 1 next season, is another tireless worker with well-rounded skills and leadership qualities, Hirschbein-Bodnar said. 

In doubles, Tavora, a transfer student, has meshed nicely with the whole team and bolstered the lineup. He and Smucker were the difference in the wins over Hewlett and Roslyn, while Barry’s straight-set triumph keyed the nail-biter over Herricks.

Schnier has played well with a revolving door of partners at second doubles, while senior Danny Feldman and junior Jarrett Levine have earned two wins at fourth doubles. The No. 3 tandem of senior Zach Klein and junior Russell Goetz has been competitive, and senior Jordan Jaffe has contributed in various spots as the “super sub.”

“Hopefully we can keep it going,” Hirschbein-Bodnar said.