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Ursuline freshmen set for state tournament debut today
By BRIAN DZENIS
YOUNGSTOWN
At the beginning of the season, Austin Arfaras had a prediction. The Ursuline freshman boasted that he was going to be in the state tournament.
Head coach Rob Reilly wasn’t having it.
“I laughed at him,” Reilly said. “I said, ‘Let’s just get through the regular season first.’”
To be fair to Reilly, a freshman doubles tandem making state does sound ridiculous. But then Arfaras and partner Luke Tsudis got through the regular season. Then they were sectional finalists. When they earned a spot in the Division II state tournament during districts last Saturday, Arfaras turned to Reilly and said “I told ya.”
“I could see that we both had a bright future ahead of us,” Afaras said. “So I predicted it.”
Arfaras and Tsudis will be the Mahoning Valley’s lone representatives at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason today. In D-II, they are the only freshman pair and two of five freshmen in the tournament.
“It is really humbling,” Afaras said. “Everybody put their best effort towards it, so I just hope we can bring it home.”
In singles play, Tsudis has just one loss while Afaras was undefeated in the regular season, Reilly said. There wasn’t a lot of concern for putting two freshmen together in the postseason. In tennis, the term “freshman” may not carry the same weight as it does in other sports.
“They’ve been playing tennis since they were 5 and 6 years old and they’ve been in tournaments throughout,” Reilly said. “So they’re pretty seasoned. When you think of freshmen, they have a lot of experience under their belt.”
Arfaras said his mother pushed him into the sport and he’s stuck with it since. When he was young, Tsudis correctly thought he had a gift for the sport.
“It’s so unique, no one really does it and I guess I have a real talent for it,” Tsudis said.
The two had been in each other’s orbit throughout their youth tennis careers, but never play as a doubles pair until high school.
“It was rusty at first, but we’ve smoothed out the bumps to get here,” Arfaras said. “We’re still not where I think we could be at, but we still have time.”
They found their dynamic quickly. Arfaras is the server and volleyer and Tsudis is consistent with his ground strokes.
“Austin is the high energy one and Luke is just calm and they just put each other in the right frame of mind to play,” Reilly said.
They’ll face Cincinatti Country Day’s Vishaal Nalagatla and Shashank Reddy in a first-round match today.
“I think we’ll go in underestimated and I’d rather go in that way,” Arfaras said.
The mood is light heading into the tournament. Their coach didn’t expect them to make state as freshman, so getting there feels like a bonus.
“We have nothing to lose — it’s going to be a good experience,” Tsudis said. “We have three more seasons to make it up again.”