Sports
Team Philly Advances Eight to Final Day of Maccabi Tennis
Rachel Benstock, who will be a freshman at Harriton this year, and Sam Silver advanced to "A" division gold medal games.
The Maccabi games rolled on Wednesday at East Falls' Arthur Ashe Tennis Complex, as more than 120 young athletes battled in 10 separate brackets for the right to advance to the final day of tennis competition.
Team Philadelphia advanced Rachel Benstock, Jamie Halsman, Stephanie Risler and Sam Silver to the finals in their respective divisions, while Sophie Book, Alex Fuchs, Larry Robinson, and Joey Sostek moved on to the semis.
"A lot of our players do look really good," said Emily Kurtz, a Penn Charter tennis player and junior coach of team Philadelphia. Kurtz added that while her squad impressed, they more or less met expectations: they had eight players enter Wednesday undefeated in tournament play and advanced the same number to the finals or semis.
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Sam Silver entered Wednesday with an unblemished record and kept it that way. The Friends Central junior and No. 3 seed in boys 16 and under "A" bracket play blanked Suffolk's Alec Tuckey 8-0 in his first match, then outgunned Tuckey's teammate, Erik Ujvari, 8-3 to move on to the gold medal game.
"The courts are fast here, so that suits my game," said Silver, who identified serving as his greatest strength and consistency on ground strokes his most worrisome liability. The junior said he hopes to take gold on Thursday, but stopped short of saying he expects it.
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"Consistency is going to be the issue," the veteran of the Detroit Maccabi Games repeated.
Incoming freshman Rachel Benstock, the top seed in the "A" division of the girls 14 and under bracket, dumped Fort Lauderdale's Ally Rosenberg 6-0 and 6-2 to advance to the finals. She said the first round bye she got by virtue of her seed played a key role in her performance, but added that, for her, the games aren't just about results.
"[My favorite part] is the feeling of being out there on the court and just playing with other people," said the first-year Maccabi competitor. "It's the challenge that I really like."
Silver, though determined to win, agreed that the Maccabi Games are about more than just wins and losses.
"It's a really cool change-up from the regular tournament schedule. When you play tournaments, it's a lot of competition. Here, it's about the competition, but we're also all together. It's the best of both worlds."
"Rachmanus," added Kurtz.
