Prepared by DAVID B. CORBIN
Major adjustments had to be made by the Westfield High School boys tennis team prior to the Union County Tournament (UCT) due to the temporary absence of first singles player Ben Duan. The Blue Devils had to jump their second and third singles players up a notch, insert a doubles player at third singles and change their second doubles players but it did not stop them from winning their third straight UCT Championship at Don Van Blake Courts in Plainfield on May 3.
The Blue Devils finished with a total of 92, followed by the Summit Hilltoppers with one individual champion at 72 points. The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders claimed the other individual champion and finished third with 44 points just edging out the New Providence Pioneers with 43. The Cranford Cougars topped off the Top-5 with 35 points.
With the absence of Duan, Raider Anand Sahasrabudhe received the top seed and lived up to his seed by defeating Blue Devil Eshaan Khera, who had jumped up from second singles, 6-2, 6-0, for the title. Sahasrabudhe received a bye, then topped Sam Spektor (Dayton) and Pioneer Samvit Choudhary to reach the finals. Previously, Khera defeated Ryan Bokina (Union Catholic) and Ethan Hopman (Summit).
Blue Devil Evan Sewald moved up to third singles from second doubles, received the top seed anyhow and proved his worth by claiming the title over Noah Ng (Summit), 6-1, 6-1. Sewald began his journey to the top with a bye and a victory over Luis Nunes (Elizabeth).
Blue Devil Deven Patel jumped up from third singles to second singles, received the second seed, defeated Andrick Charles (Union Catholic) and then third-seeded Raider Ed Li in the semifinal before bowing, 6-2, 6-1, to top-seeded Ben Levkov (Summit) for the title. Li had received a bye then beat Arav Misra (GL) in the quarterfinals.
Top-seeded Blue Devils Colin Cimei and Cole Hornbeck received a bye at first doubles then blanked their Union Catholic opponents before knocking off CougarsAidan Zagarola and Drew Scheusterman to reach the finals where they defeated Summit’s Shawn Macalalag and Henry Deutsch, 6-1, 6-2, for the crown. Previously, Zagarola and Scheusterman defeated their GL opponents, 7-5, 6-3. Raiders Nate Leversee and Dylan Fountain won their first round against Roselle Park, 6-0, 6-1, then bowed to New Providence in the quarterfinals.
Blue Devils Chris Waters and Evan Kahn received the top seed at second doubles and breezed through their quarterfinal round over Union Catholic and semifinal round over Governor Livingston to reach the championship round where they seized the crown with a 6-1, 6-2, triumph over Summit’s Spencer Thompson and Nate LaRocque Green.
At second doubles, Raiders Ethan Diamond and Bowen Zhang seeded fifth beat their Roselle Park opponents, 6-4, 6-1, in the first round then lost to Governor Livingston, 6-2, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. Cougars Colin Chen and Arnav Kandagunta won over Dayton in the first round then lost to Summit’s Spencer Thompson and Nate LaRocque Green in the quarterfinals.
UC 70+ Softball:
TEAM W L T Redd Foxxes 2 0 Moody Blues 2 0 Green Machine 0 2 Mellow Yellow 0 2 Purple Haze 0 0 Moody Blues 21, Green Machine 10 Moody Blues 17, Green Machine 16 Redd Foxxes 20, Mellow Yellow 16 Redd Foxxes 14, Mellow Yellow 8
