Thursday, May 17, 2018

WASHINGTONVILLE TENNIS TAKES ON COUNTIES

By MATT BENSON

MATT BENSON FOR THE WIZARD WEEKLY
For people who don’t know much about tennis, teams as a whole do not play in counties.  Throughout the season, team members who win a percentage of matches have the ability to move onto counties and compete on an individual level.  

This year, Washingtonville will be sending two singles players to counties: senior, Gavan O’Brien, and sophomore, Gabe Castillo.  The top eight players from these matches will move onto sections where they will then compete for the three limited spots for states.  Last year, O’ Brien was able to move on to states after coming in third for Section 9.   Unlike O’Brien who has been playing tennis at Washingtonville for years, Castillo moved to the district in the offseason and hopes to make an impact at sections and maybe even states.

The tennis community has a grading system for athletes to find good competition all over the world.  This grading system is called the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR).  The current section champion has a score of 10, while O’Brien has a score of 8 and Castillo an amazing score of 11.  The system is pretty spot on, as Gabe Castillo has defeated the current Section 9 champion twice this season. However, this is Castillo’s first time competing for the title, and stated, “I’m excited. I’ve never really experienced anything like this before.  I just hope I go far.”

Gavan O’Brien will be ending his career at Washingtonville after playing on the varsity tennis team for six years now.  He competed in his first singles match in the eighth.  O’Brien exclaimed, “It’s been a long journey but it is definitely gratifying.  I’ve put six years of work into high school tennis and to be on a stage that only a few in the county and section are a part of is very exciting.  I’m excited for my future because of the motivation and work ethic it has given me.  Tennis has helped me tremendously in all aspects of life.”

Outside of this year, Castillo and O’Brien both have bright futures on and off the court.  The Washingtonville senior will be attending Rochester Institute of Technology to major in biomedical engineering and may tryout for their tennis team in the upcoming season.  Meanwhile, Castillo is currently a four star recruit and ranked 205th nationally.

Make sure to come out and support these tennis players on Monday, May 21st! The matches will be held at Match Point!

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