The entire East Hampton High School boys varsity tennis team lined the fences, watching intently. Their match against Eastport-South Manor on April 14 would come down to the last doubles contest of the day. If their third pairing — Joseph Martinez-Garces and Lucas Centalonza — could take the third set, East Hampton would clinch the match. Martinez-Garces and Centalonza took the set 6-2, and East Hampton beat Eastport-South Manor 5-4.
Martinez-Garces, a senior, didn’t let the pressure get to him. In fact, he says he loved hearing his teammates cheering. “I live for the cheers. Hearing all my teammates support me is awesome,” he said. “We played well. This was some of the best we’ve played all season. We’re looking to keep moving forward, keep our success going.”
His partner didn’t even realize they were playing for a team win. “Joseph and I have been playing since sophomore year and we always keep each other motivated and even if we are losing like we were during the second set, we just keep our heads up and try our hardest,” said Centalonza, also a senior.
Griffin Beckmann, a senior captain, and his doubles partner, Harry Schultz, a freshman, didn’t win their match, but you’d never guess, seeing them cheer for their doubles teammates. “It’s always really fun to support everyone on the team. It builds the environment we have here. It’s a really positive environment, a really warm environment. We all love to see each other succeed and we all stick it out until the end,” Beckmann said. “Learning that you don’t always win, that it doesn’t always go your way, pushes you to think outside the box and trust yourself and grow your mind-set and we really appreciate all these games.”
For once, East Hampton wasn’t dealing with frigid weather on its home courts. It was one of the sunniest and mildest days so far. But the players did have to deal with a shuffled Eastport-South Manor lineup, a strategy some teams use when they’re trying to beat a stronger opponent.
“If a team feels like they aren’t as strong or has a better chance of winning by changing up their lineup, what they’re allowed to do is as long as they go in order from strongest to weakest, they’re allowed to put anyone in singles or doubles as long as they’re in order from best to least,” explained Henry Cooper, also a senior captain.
But the lineup shuffle was no problem for him or Chase Bohnsack, who both won their singles matches 6-0, 6-0. Bohnsack, a freshman, has yet to lose this season. “Chase is the best freshman I’ve ever seen, ever,” Cooper said. “He has a pretty promising future ahead of him not only in tennis but in life as well, which is kind of more important outside of this. He’s a good kid.”
Win or lose, Pablo Montesi, their head coach, was thrilled with the boys’ effort. “As a coach, I love seeing — whether we win or we lose at the end — it’s nice to see the games are close. All of these doubles were close. Two of the doubles went into third sets. Our singles three was also close. And Henry and Chase being so solid — it was a pretty easy win for them, but over all it’s nice to have a close competition and winning is the cherry on top.”
Montesi thinks they’ll continue to have success if they maintain their commitment and enthusiasm. “We just need to focus on our game, what we can control — our serves, our returns, our team effort. If you’re playing doubles, talk to your partner. Have that communication and support. If we’re doing well over all, whether we lose or we win, if we do the correct things, we are going for shots, are courageous and we focus on our strategy, that’s our goal.”
