Ithaca boys tennis wins third straight sectional title

Ithaca High School has been the dominant force in Section IV boys tennis for what seems like ages. That trend continued this season with even more postseason triumph.

On May 9, the Little Red captured their third consecutive Section IV Class A title. Head coach Helen Evans pointed out multiple key factors that have made this program consistent champions over the years.

“They’re disciplined and they’re highly motivated,” Evans said. “They’ve been easy to coach from that perspective. They want to improve. Every time they step on the court, they want to get better. Internal motivation is really what they have.”

Unlike in previous years, the regular season proved more of a challenge. The Little Red lost to Corning twice by scores of 4-3. Those defeats were their first to a STAC opponent since 2021, when the Hawks also got the better of them. Because both meetings were such tight affairs, the Little Red knew they could take down Corning when it mattered most.

“Even though we lost, our boys were very confident,” Evans said. “They knew that they played good tennis and they were very, very close to beating them. If it’s possible to say a loss gives you confidence, I think it really did. I think they knew that they were very close, and I don’t think it deterred them. I think it made them stronger.”

Evans went into further detail on what improvements the team made throughout the course of the campaign.

“It’s a young and inexperienced team, but they’ve learned a lot every time they step on the court, especially during matches,” Evans said. “They’ve become mature in their choices. They’ve put points together very nicely. They have understood that sometimes you can’t blast through players, certainly in doubles. It takes time to build the point in order to win the point. They’re all playing smart tennis.”

The Little Red’s youngest player has been arguably the most impressive of a talented bunch. Aiden Xie captured the singles title, and it wasn’t even close. The eighth grader did not drop a single set throughout the tournament and only dropped five games across three matches. His outstanding performance at sectionals is a clear indication of even more success on the horizon.

“He’s a great character,” Evans said. “He likes to have fun. He enjoys the game, and it comes through. That combined with his incredible discipline and hard work is a lovely combination. You can tell he just loves the game of tennis.”

In the championship game, Xie took on Corning’s Denis Khrapko. This served as the rubber match with Xie and Khrapko each recording a win against each other in the regular season. With the stakes at their highest, Xie felt he played some of the best tennis of his young career.

“I was hitting super well and serving super well,” Xie said. “I was playing unpredictable to the point where he didn’t really know what to do with me. The score wasn’t really doing justice because it was more of a close game than 6-1, 6-3. I ended up on the winning side of most of the games.”

Xie also reflected on what has made the Little Red the team to beat in Section IV for many years.

“It’s the coaching and education,” Xie said. “We really advertise our sports well, and the coaching is just so, so advanced. We have our own courts, so we get to play every single day for one to two hours, and it goes so well with the players because we have great talent on our team, too.”

As for the doubles championship, sophomore Jonah Jacobstein and senior Kieran Shulman joined forces to come out on top. The duo had to fight from behind against Horseheads’ Jacob Staats and Dominick Wood. After getting shut out 6-0 in the first set, they rallied back and steamrolled through the final two sets, both by scores of 6-1. Evans attributed their strong chemistry to their ultimate success.

“I think they’re great friends,” Evans said. “They did play together last year, which really helped. They’re both very, very sweet boys, So the combination of that seems to work. They’re young gentlemen on the court, and so there’s that dynamic that works between the two of them. They enjoy the game. They like to have fun. Neither of them gets down, and it’s an interesting combination to watch two players who just have that very positive attitude, no matter what the score is.”

The other notable performer at sectionals was junior Kenneth Kniffin, who finished fourth in the single tournament.

Since Xie, Jacobstein and Shulman finished in the top three at sectionals, they all advanced to the state qualifying round, which took place from May 17-18 in Binghamton. The trio successfully punched their tickets to the state tournament from May 31 to June 2 at the USTA Tennis Center in Flushing.