Boys Tennis: Panthers Battle Horsemen to Win 3-2

Two of the top Section 1 boys tennis teams went head to head Friday at ’s Briarcliff campus, with the host Pleasantville Panthers (6-2) prevailing 3-2 for just the second consecutive time (since the last meeting, and first of the 2011 season on April 4) over the Sleepy Hollow Horsemen (6-2).

"It’s great,” Pleasantville Boys Tennis Head Coach said. “It puts us in the driver seat. We control our own destiny. If we win we’re still in, if we lose we’re out.”

Sleepy’s Jason Cai easily handled Pleasantville’s Chris Durang, 6-1, 6-3 in the second singles match.

The first doubles pair of the Panthers’ Adam Bucheister, and Charlie Finn were also early winners over Horsemen John Samparo and Alex Dopico, 6-2, 6-2.

Panthers’ Alex Catalan and Aidan Heintzman then proved victorious over Adam Hafling and Phillipe Pachero in second double’s play, 7-5, 1-6 (7-2).

Captain Kyle Bull finished out first singles in excellent fashion during another hard fought tie breaking match, 6-4, 1-6 (11-9), over Sleepy’s Ben Hafling.  

Third singles player Matt Hammer came up the victor over Pleasantville’s third singles Christian Andreacchi,  6-4, 5-7 (16-14), for an exciting ending heading into Monday’s 4:45 p.m. match at Rye Neck–the first of four remaining regular season matches including Croton-Harmon, Westlake and Ossining.

The Panthers face Croton-Harmon at 4:15 p.m. Monday before finishing off with Rye Neck and Westlake.

Pleasantville and Sleepy Hollow are of equal caliber, as results from past matches indicate. Yet others such as the likes of Rye Neck and Ossining are also strong–making Horsemen Head Coach Brian Tompkins pleased with his players' effort and skill against the Panthers.

“They’re a very good squad,” said Sleepy Hollow Head Coach Brian Tompkins of Friday’s opponent. “[They're] very nice players. They played well."