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Ursuline freshmen made it to state
The Ursuline boys tennis tandem of Austin Arfaras and Luke Tsudis made quite a first impression.
The freshman duo closed out their first year of varsity competition as the Mahoning Valley’s only representative in the state tournament. There was no adjustment period coming out of middle school.
“We faced tough competition in all the tournaments we’ve played,” Arfaras said. “It was kind of an easy transition.”
The pair had a steller regular season as singles players, with Arfaras boasting an undefeated record and Tsudis taking only one loss. The pair didn’t come together until the postseason.
“We were both going to sectionals as singles players, but once our fathers and our coach said that we could really make it far, we tried it out and we did it,” Tsudis said.
Tsudis was the guy in the back of the court placing shots while Arfaras was at the net providing the kill shots. As well as they’ve done in their first year, the state tournament showed them what it takes to make a dynamic duo.
“You have to have both dynamics of the duo,” Arfaras said. You have to have hard hitting, the consistency and the all-around game.”
While both are prolific singles players, they took a liking to doubles play.
“When you make a mistake, you have someone to help you out and can’t get mad about it,” Arfaras said.
“The points go by really fast,” Tsudis added.
Their time in state in Division II doubles at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason ended with an first-round loss to the eventual state champions. The Cincinnati Country Day duo of Vishaal Nalagatia and Shashank Reddy beat their freshman opponents in straight sets (6-2, 6-0).
“We saw the type of speed in how they hit, their formation was totally different than what we saw in our season,” Arfaras said. “We can take that and mix it up in our play so that we can play like they did, because we played the people that won state.
“It was amazing. It was something that can really inspire us for the upcoming years.”
— Brian Dzenis, The Vindicator