Cardozo High Boys Tennis Rolls On in PSAL Championships

After 36 years as Varsity Boys tennis coach at Cardozo High and becoming the winningest coach in NYC state history, Howie Arons knows what it takes to put together a formidable tennis team.

Fresh off a semifinal showing in the city championships, two of Cardozo High's doubles teams were selected to compete in the PSAL Doubles Tournament at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens. The team of Sophomore Matthew Balilo and Freshman Jun Yuminaga are still alive after the first day of competition on Wednesday, advancing to the semifinals with a high quality 10-7 win over the Brooklyn Tech team of Sophomore Justin Selig and Senior Ilan Korchmar.

However, the team of Junior Mitchell Cheung and Senior Walter Dawes were not as fortunate, losing a close opening round encounter by 10-8 to the Forest Hills team to Sophomore Michael Jasienowski and Senior Xunlong Zhang.

"After doing this for so long, I know all the teams extremely well," said Arons. "I can point out the strengths and weaknesses of the majority of the players, and probably could have picked this year's semifinalists in the city championships at this time last year. It's just an area of sports that I really enjoy."

Utilizing strong serves with timely trips into the net, Balilo and Yuminaga took control of the points early and raced out to a 7-4 lead. However, a lapse of concentration from Balilo while serving gave Brooklyn Tech the break of serve back at 7-6.

After some words of coaching from Arons, they broke Korchmar's serve immediately to regain control of the lead, with Yuminaga holding to send Cardozo High up 9-6.

"I just told Matthew not to go for so much on his shots," said Arons. "It was like he was playing baseball for a couple of games."

Serving for the match, a pair of aces Balilo gave the Cardozo High duo three match points, the second of which Yuminaga converted with a strong forehand drive.

It was a strong regrouping from what could have been a devastating loss the week before. After finishing the season with an 11-1 record and winning the Queens Championships, Cardozo High was the odds-on favorite to reach the finals of the city championships. However, they lost 3-2 to Brooklyn Tech in the semis.

"I have to admit that was a very tough loss for us," said Arons. "We didn't expect to beat Beacon High in the finals, but we did expect to at least earn the right to face them. To have to start an individual tournament just a few days later can be taxing mentally."

Despite the loss, Arons said he was extremely optimistic about his team going even further next season.

"I'm not graduating anyone and every other team is losing at least one starting player, which is awesome for us," said Arons. "With everyone on board again for next year, we can only do better."

Balilo and Yuminaga are scheduled to play their semifinal today at 3:00 p.m. against the No. 1 seeds from Stuyvesant High School, Junior Christophe Jou and Leon Pan.