At the outset of each tennis season, coach Jennifer Crane puts several goals before her team to give them something to strive for in the proceeding months. Yesterday afternoon, the Bears attained one of those goals by beating Bayport-Blue Point, one of the consistent powers in League V tennis.

The victory broke a string of eight straight losses to the Phantoms, who the Bears last defeated on May 1, 2001 to close out a League Championship season. The Bears fell to Bayport on March 30 by a narrow 3-4 margin, the closest they had been since the victory in 2001, and knew that the next time around could be their time.

The Phantoms were in second place in the league coming into the match with a 7-1 record, but the Bears cruised in their four match victories. Steven Ou continued his solid season at first singles with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win. John Wei battled back from a second set loss to win going away at second singles, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Wensan Yin played brilliant tennis at fourth singles by sweeping both sets, 6-0, 6-0. On the doubles side, Brandon Gicquel and Thomas Lawton continued their fearsome play at first doubles to win their match, 6-3, 6-1, and give the Bears the margin of victory.

Next up for the Bears is today’s Senior Day match at home vs. Sachem.

---