The Unbeatable Tennis Team

The YU tennis team, coming off an unprecedented three straight undefeated seasons, will try to extend its 29-match winning streak when competition begins this spring. The Mac stars look forward to another promising season in the yet to be established IAC, and for good reason.

Six of the team’s top eight players return from last year’s record-setting 11-0 record, including the top three seeds, senior captains Josh Hasten, Zvi Zilbershteyn, and Shai Samet. Zilbershteyn, a fourth year player, has a shot at setting the Yeshiva record for most career singles victories.

David Schwartz and Edon Hirt will also see regular action at singles following the graduation of Doron Katz and Daniel Kraft. Swiss import and 1996-1997 rookie-of-the-year Steve Langer is nursing a sore knee but hopes to be ready by March. He will be counted on for strong play in singles and doubles.

Other returning players Oren Koslowe and Jeff Rothman provide power and extra strength for the team. For the second year in a row, Koslowe will team with Schwartz in #3 doubles, and Zilbershteyn will join Langer in #2 doubles. Hasten and Samet, who have been unstoppable the past two years, will pair up for a third time in #1 doubles.

In his fourth year as coach, Jon Bandler took seven new players this year including Chaim Herman and Steven Pollack, two hard-hitting contenders from last year’s practice squad. Other new team members such as juniors Joseph Weilgus and Danny Nassimi hope to add team spirit through their desire to play and will to win. Finally, freshman Adam Aftergut and sophomores Jeff Taub and Micha Porat, high school competitors at Taft High, HANC, and MTA, respectively, will demonstrate their experience on the court as well.

To get a head start, on Friday, September 26, the top 3 seeds traveled to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie for the Rolex Northeast Division III Championships, the first time YU has participated in the tournament. The tournament featured 64 players from 16 colleges around the region, some nationally ranked. Top-notch teams like NYU, Binghamton (ranked in the top 10 of Division III), Vassar and many more entered the competition.

Each YU player lost in the first round; Hasten to Vassar’s Ryan Lee, Zilbershteyn to Hamilton’s Greg Nussbaum, and Samet to Nazareth’s Chris Peets, the 5th seed overall in the tournament. In the consolation round, Hasten rallied from a 5-2 deficit before losing in a tiebreaker to Skidmore’s Dan Cummings. Rich Whitmore of the Rochester Institute of Technology defeated Zilbershteyn, while Samet’s comeback was not enough to beat Minh Lu, also from RIT.

“The caliber of players of the tournament was far superior to anything we’ve seen in the past 3 years,” said Bandler. “Getting a few wins would have been nice but I think it was a good experience for our guys.”

The official matches will resume in the 1998 Spring semester. Good Luck!