Westhampton Beach Boys Tennis Sweeps Southold-Greenport

These Hurricanes are sweeping the coast.

For the third time this season, the Westhampton Beach boys tennis team shut out its opponent, ousting Southold-Greenport, 7-0, Monday for the Hurricanes’ fifth-straight win of the season.

“We have a good group of guys,” said No. 1 singles standout, senior Josh Kaplan. “I think everyone is working hard. We’re already better than where we started, so that’s a good trend, and we’ll just keep getting better.”

No. 1 doubles duo Andre Insalaco, a junior, and Bobby Stabile, a freshman, were first off of the court May 17. The pair blanked Matt Messana and Matt Mullen 6-0, 6-0 to move to 6-0 on the season.

“We get along really well — we have pretty similar playing styles,” Insalaco said of his first-time partner, who made the team last season but never got to compete due to the COVID-19 shutdown. “I’m really happy playing with him.”

The junior said he and Stabile communicate well, and are getting more and more comfortable together as the matches keep coming. Head coach John Czartosieski pointed to the duo’s first win of the season, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, over Ward Melville’s Shashank Pennabadi and Gabriel Bursztyn, who compete in the U.S. Tennis Association circuit, as a huge confidence-booster.

“They were very strong,” Czartosieski said. “The way my boys picked it up, and how their confidence improved during the match was really exciting to watch. I’m happy for them.”

But the coach admitted his players had to shake off some rust during preseason. Czartosieski worked with Insalaco, who is primarily a soccer player, on timing, his footwork and consistency to get back into the swing of things. The junior said he likes where the commitment is leading him.

“We’re looking really good so far,” the doubles player said of he and his partner. “We’re one of, if not the strongest team in the division doubles-wise, so we’re pretty confident. I know how I feel, and I think [Bobby’s] with me — we want to win the division doubles title and make a run at counties.”

Insalaco made it to the Division IV quarterfinals in 2019, where he fell to East Hampton’s then-senior leader Jonny DeGroot. Kaplan, who blanked Cal Karsten 6-0, 6-0 Monday, topped DeGroot in the semifinals, and made it the quarterfinals in the Suffolk County tournament the last two seasons. Kaplan, too, edged his Ward Melville competitor, Aron Bursztyn, in three sets, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3. The Hurricanes’ only loss of the season was to the Patriots, 4-3.

“I put in a lot of work to get that win,” Kaplan said, smiling. “It looks like it’s moving toward something good so far. The last few matches have been pretty smooth.”

But his match against Karsten was different from the ones since Bursztyn. The Greenport junior danced around the court in an attempt to counter Kaplan’s attacks. The Westhampton Beach senior still made it look easy, pushing Karsten back at the baseline and moving up to attack at the net when needed. Karsten, in most cases, came up short or returned the ball out of bounds, and Kaplan jammed him up a few times. The Hurricane added his serve being on helped him a ton.

“He was fast — it made it more exciting, because I had to hit more balls and I had to run more — but I felt really good today,” Kaplan said. “Some people through the match start getting down on themselves and they don’t try as hard. He was consistent with trying. He got to shots that people haven’t been able to get to recently. That made me have to move in and hit an extra shot. He also wasn’t making a lot of his first serves, and toward the end completed most of them.”

Czartosieski called his senior “steady as a rock,” adding Kaplan showed up to the match at Ward Melville at 5 p.m. after a full afternoon of Advanced Placement exams, not beginning his match until nearly 5:30 p.m.

“He has his behaviors on the court. He keeps everything under control, his emotions are always in check — he never gets upset — and he knows how to handle adversity,” the coach said. “He’s playing really well. I think he can go really far in the individual tournament.”

Sophomore Gavin Vander Schaaf, who received the Profiles in Courage Award from the USTA’s Eastern Section for his battle with Chiari malformation, a condition in which the brain tissues push down into the spinal canal, defeated James Hayes at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-1. Senior Santo Benenati topped Ryan Fulda, 6-0, 6-2, and freshman Theo Grellet-Aumont beat Jaden Olsen, 6-1, 6-1.

Brothers Kasper, a senior who made it to the Division IV quarterfinals with Jake Ongania in 2019, and Max Buchen, a freshman, outdid Ben Ward and Quincy Brigham, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 2 doubles, and junior Alessandro Volpe and sophomore Anthony Agudelo took down Jack Giovanniello and Cole Hilary, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 3.

Westhampton Beach’s (5-1 overall, 3-0 in League VII) next big test will be East Hampton (2-2, 1-1), who the Hurricanes face on the road May 24. The Bonackers edged the Hurricanes for the division title in 2019. The team is also looking to schedule a nonleague matchup against Half Hollow Hills East (4-1, 2-1 in League I) next week.

“Not to be too presumptuous, but we are looking good,” Czartosieski said. “They’re receptive, understand the stakes at hand and want to continue the success that we’re used to enjoying, and I’m excited for these guys. I’m excited about the potential. We can give Ward Melville a run for it.”