New York City Boys’ High School Preview

2020 NEW YORK BOYS HIGH SCHOOL PREVIEW By Brian Coleman

Teams to Watch

Beacon The Beacon Blue Demons continue to stand alone atop New York City tennis. Last year, the school from the Upper West Side won its 12th straight PSAL New York City “A” Division title. It came via a 3-1 victory over Bronx Science, and the Blue Demons will be out to defend its title this season and make it lucky number 13. While third singles player Marcos Lee is gone to graduation, the Beacon roster is still full of contributing players from a year ago which will make it the team to beat this year. Joseph Wilkanowski and Sebastian Sec will lead the way at first and second singles, respectively, as Beacon aims to continue its reign top New York City.

Bronx Science Over the years, no team has given Beacon a bigger test than the boys from Bronx Science, and the Wolverines will be out for revenge in 2020. Falling short in the city championship last year will only make the team more motivated, and with the return of all of its starters from that team, look out for Bronx Science. Anchoring the lineup is Blake Frank at first singles, while Rod Rofougaran, who played second singles a year ago, and Paul Elghouayel, who played third singles, will be back to fill out the singles card. A young group of talented doubles players round out the lineup to make Bronx Science a deep and formidable opponent.

Cardozo Despite losing its second and third singles players from its 2019 team, don’t sleep on the Judges from Cardozo this coming year. Leading the way at the top will be senior Maxwell Kachkarov, who as a junior did not drop a match all season and should be one of the best players in all of New York City this year. The first doubles combination of Eric Dubilrer and Peter Vanechanos add depth to make Cardozo a threat to make a deep run in the playoffs later this spring.

Brooklyn Tech The Brooklyn Tech Engineers had a bit of a down season, by its standard, last year, as the squad reached the quarterfinals before losing to Bronx Science. But as a perennial championship contender, do not be surprised if the Engineers are one of

the last teams standing in 2020. Atop the singles lineup will be senior Jeffrey Yu, who went undefeated in the regular season last year. Ryan Sham, who played third singles last year, will most likely jump up to the number two spot left vacant due to Jonathan Glinsky graduating. The Engineers also return doubles players Steve Polishchuk, Milo Kessler and Justin Radist to fill out a deep, experienced squad.

Townsend Harris As the fifth-seed a year ago, Townsend Harris advanced into the quarterfinals of the city’s “A” Division, and could be due to build on that success in 2020. The Hawks will be without its first singles player from last year, Aleksa Pljakic, which will mean the second and third singles players from that team, Justin Chen and Joshua Ashvil, respectively, will need to move into a bigger role. Noah Pearlstein returns at first doubles, despite losing partner Nicolas Oltean, but with another year of experience for this Townsend Harris team, the Hawks should be able to follow up on its success last year with an even deeper run this season.