Westhampton Beach grabs No. 5 seed in Section XI boys tennis playoffs

Westhampton Beach is still squarely in the Section XI boys tennis race, and the No. 5 seed in Division I gives the Hurricanes a real postseason lane rather than a token appearance. The bracket is marked subject to change, but the road is already mapped through May 27, with rounds set for May 14, May 21, May 22, May 26 and the final at Shoreham-Wading River High School at 2 p.m. Higher seeds host the early rounds, which means Westhampton Beach’s run begins with the kind of home-court edge that can matter before the draw tightens toward the championship site.

That placement also drops Westhampton Beach into a deep Suffolk County field, where the teams around it help define just how difficult a title push will be. The bracket puts Smithtown West at No. 1 and features other heavyweights and familiar postseason names such as Half Hollow Hills East, Half Hollow Hills West, Ward Melville, West Islip, Huntington, Commack, Rocky Point, Sayville and Islip. For Hamptons readers, the key is not just who made the bracket, but who Westhampton Beach has to outlast if it is going to keep local title hopes alive into late May.

The Hurricanes arrived at that seed with momentum. On April 27, Westhampton Beach edged Shoreham-Wading River 4-3, and freshman Teddy Isaacson sealed the win in a tiebreak, the sort of pressure-point result that shows a team can hold up in a one-match postseason format. Earlier coverage also pointed to Westhampton Beach’s long tradition of excellence, with head coach Matt Reed saying the team had a strong core of returning varsity players and roster depth, and the Hurricanes later wrapped up sole possession of the League VII championship with a 5-2 win over Ross.

That history gives the current bracket extra weight. USTA Eastern’s Long Island high school tennis record includes Westhampton Beach doubles champions Eric Luxenborg and Benjy Papel, a reminder that the program has already left its mark in the region’s tennis ledger. For now, the focus shifts to the bracket itself, where the No. 5 seed means Westhampton Beach stays in the conversation and the Hamptons’ postseason attention narrows to whether the Hurricanes can turn a strong seed into a late-May breakthrough.