By ANDREW COEN
LWA (8-1) clinched the championship with a 4-1 win over the Kew Forest School on May 19 at the Portledge School in Locust Valley. The conference title repeat came despite losing three key seniors from last year’s championship team. The Tigers had fallen to Portledge 4-1 just a week before capturing the crown.
“This one was less than expected so it was just as satisfying and probably more satisfying than last year’s because we were facing tougher opponents,” LWA coach Bobby Schaefer said. “Most of the wins were come from-behind wins, which made it that-much more intense and satisfying when we did win.”
Picking up wins in the championship match against Kew Forest were sophomore singles players Sloan Millman and Desmond Hibbert, with freshman Dylan Ander suffering a close defeat. Also victorious over Kew Forest were the doubles teams of senior Ken Salomon and Long Beach resident Dustin Koff and sophomores Kendall Karson and Aaron Rosenthal.
For the second year in a row the championship clinching match was won by Hibbert, a Baldwin resident, who is called “Mr. Clutch” by Schaefer. Hibbert was given the most improved player award for the second year in a row at the team’s awards dinner after the season.
Schaefer credits the unselfish attitude of his team to the leadership of co-captains Salomon and senior Mayahm Zion, who set the tone with their actions both on and off the court. Salomon’s “team first” attitude was evident in his decision to play doubles even though he had the ability to be one of the three top singles players.“[Salomon and Zion] were role models and commanded respect,” said Schaefer. “They were invaluable to me as players and leaders.”
Team MVP awards were given to Salomon, who had only one conference loss in two years, and Millman. Another important contributor was sophomore Sarah Chorney.
“We had the depth of talent and we were fortunate to have great up and coming freshman,” Schaefer said. “We had singles quality players playing in doubles because we were so deep.”
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