GUILDERLAND — Trailing four matches to two in the Class A Section II championship match on Tuesday, there was no quit in the Guilderland tennis team.

The Dutchmen, the third seed in the tournament, eased its way back against Bethlehem and the sectional title came down to the final match.

Joey Milstein won the number-four singles match to make the score 4-3 and the number-one doubles team of Andrei Belostosky and Alex and Bush won maybe the most entertaining match of the day to pull the Dutchmen even, 4-4.

Then everything came down to the final match of the contest between number-two singles Mike Griggs of Guilderland and Bethlehem’s Mike Amico.

Amico pulled out a three-set win and gave the Eagles the championship for the second year in a row.
"That was an awesome tennis match," Guilderland Coach Curtis Snyder said afterwards. "I am really proud of these guys. They finished through it. We were hanging on by a thread after losing a tight third double match. Then our number-four singles guys came through with a win and our first doubles came through with a win."

It was the third year the Dutchmen and the Eagles hooked up for the final match. Guilderland won the Section II title in 2005.
"This is our fourth consecutive final," Snyder said. "Unfortunately, we have just one win in those. But somebody like Mike Griggs has played in four finals. That just doesn’t happen."

"Avenge those losses"

Guilderland was the winner of the first completed match of the day. The number-two doubles team won its match in two sets. After losing the number-five singles, Guilderland’s Jon Ellenbogen lost the number-one match against Jesse Hoffman. Dan Bakst dropped the number-two singles match, but Guilderland got a win in the number-six slot to pull within one match.

But when Bethlehem won the third doubles match, the Dutchmen were in trouble.

The Dutchmen got the win from Milstein, and then Belostosky and Bush won their match in the third set to tie the match.

Griggs lost the first set and was up in the second set when the final doubles match ended. With no one else on the court and with teammates, coaches, and parents cheering each point, Griggs held on to win the second set, 7-5. The two combatants then played a back-and-forth third set that featured service breaks before Amico pulled out the win, 6-4.

The teams played to a 5-4 result earlier in the season.
"We lost to Bethlehem and Niskayuna during the season," Snyder said. "We got lucky and drew them both in the sectionals. We wanted to avenge those losses. We actually lost to Niskayuna worse, 6-3. We came back and beat them, 5-4. We wanted these two matches and we ended up with them."

"The right direction"

The season is not over for all the Dutchmen. Ellenbogen and Bakst have formed a doubles team that is participating in the individual sectional tournament.

The duo reached the semifinals of the tournament that was played on Wednesday.
"My number one and three are coming back tomorrow," Snyder said. "They have a shot to win it all. They wanted to win a sectional title and then go to states. They just need to be in the top three."

Win or lose, Ellenbogen and Bakst will play on Thursday, in either the championship or consolation match.

Losing two matches this season and being the third seed is what a lot of people expected from the Dutchmen this season. But their coach didn’t.
"I’m glad for this team," Snyder said. "We lost some big guns and people were writing us off. They said it was a re-building year. I told the guys that it wasn’t fair to them and that they had to go out and show that they were a good team and it wasn’t a re-building year. That was taking away from these guys. We had a lot of young guys in the line-up and our junior varsity went undefeated this year."

Snyder said that this trip to the finals will pay dividends down the road.
"Our goal was to get back to the sectional finals," the coach said. "The young guys tasted what it is like to get to the finals and now they want to keep on winning."

Guilderland will graduate four seniors in the line-up. Ellenbogen, Griggs, Bakst, and Belostosky will be graduating next month.
"I lose my number one, two, three, and a doubles number-one," Snyder said. "But a lot of other teams are top heavy this year so that bodes well for us for next year. A lot of j.v.’s have juniors on them, ours have mostly freshmen and eighth-graders. The tennis program is going in the right direction."