Groth fights through ankle scare to finish fourth in Division III finals

Bryce Groth’s run to fourth place in the Division III singles tournament became one of Westhampton Beach’s most notable postseason results because it was built on a brief scare, a fast reset and one more push when the match was on the line. The Westhampton Beach senior rolled his ankle, regained his balance and shook it off, then hit two aces to move ahead 6-5 in the third set against East Hampton’s Henry Cooper.

That sequence mattered because it showed how close Groth came to turning the match in his favor even after the ankle issue. Cooper answered in the end, winning 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to claim third place for the second straight season, but Groth’s finish still carried real weight for Westhampton Beach. In a county bracket where every point can swing a placement, Groth stayed in the rally after the injury and kept creating pressure against one of the East End’s better seniors.

The finish also fit a bigger Westhampton Beach season that had already shown real depth. The boys team went 12-3 and finished second in the division behind Ross School. Westhampton Beach then reached the Section XI quarterfinals, another sign that the program was not leaning on one player or one result to make its mark. Groth and Giancarlo Volpe also formed the school’s first doubles team and nearly qualified for the state tournament at Flushing Meadows, giving the team another pair that could hang with top competition late in the season.

That depth showed up again in the Division III tournament, where Westhampton Beach had multiple players place. Groth’s fourth-place finish sat inside that larger picture: a senior who battled through an ankle scare, a doubles lineup that came close to the state level, and a program that kept putting players deep into the postseason. For Westhampton Beach, the message was clear. The school is not just sending players into Suffolk County tennis, it is keeping them in the fight until the final points decide the order.