James Madison Wins First NYC Title in Nearly 50 Years

Party like its 1978.

The Lady Knights of James Madison captured the PSAL New York City 2A Girls’ Tennis Championship this fall, defeating McKee/Staten Island Tech 3-2 in a thrilling finals match, and bringing a city title back to James Madison for the first time since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.

“I’m so proud of the team and grateful and honored to be a part of the journey,” said James Madison head coach Matthew Nanes. “We’re calling it ‘A Season to Remember’.”

And that journey actually began during last year’s playoffs, after a tough defeat in the semifinals. Nanes can remember the pain of that loss and the motivation he saw in his player’s eyes, and the Lady Knights vowed to come back stronger in 2024.

“The disappointment on the bus ride home was enough to accept the mission of next season,” he recalls. “We actually lost one of our top players, but luckily we added two talented freshmen, Milana Markov at third singles, and Sofia Vinnik at first doubles, and at that point I knew that with our hungry veteran players and new young talent, we would have a great shot at making a run.”

The team made good on that commitment, going through the regular season undefeated and earning the top-seed in the playoffs, making its way into the championship match against the Seagulls.

The aforementioned Markov won at third singles in the championship match, posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory, while the Seagulls got a key victory from the first doubles tandem of Alina Pokhylko & Dominika Schutz who won 6-4, 6-4.

Priyanka Shah of McKee/Staten Island Tech held on to win 7-5, 3-6, [10-5] at first singles, and on the next court over, Nicoletta Draganchyuk came back from a set down to win 5-7, 6-0, [10-1] for James Madison at second singles, which was a crucial win for the Lady Knights’ path to victory.

“I knew that if we had a realistic chance at victory, we needed a win in that spot,” said Nanes. “After dropping the first set, there was a need to assess the situation and come up with a new strategy. Being able to stay focused and calm enabled us to dominate the second set and tiebreaker which set us up for an opportunity for team victory.”

With four courts done, the city championship would come down to the second doubles court.

“I always joke about a nice easy low-stress 5-0 win, but this team seems to always want to make it interesting,” said Nanes.

James Madison’s Angela Wu & Irma Gaidukova jumped out to the early lead as they won the first set 6-4, only to see their opponents respond with a 7-5 victory in the second set, bringing the deciding second doubles court to a 10-point super tiebreaker.

In the ensuing tiebreaker, Wu & Gaidukova were able to rise to the occasion, winning six of the final seven points from 4-4 to win 10-5, sealing their win and clinching the city title for the Lady Knights.

“The ability to remain calm when we are down and bounce back to some thrilling victory is the common thread for most of the squad,” said Nanes.

The victory is James Madison’s first tennis championship in nearly a half-century, and it’ll be a longtime before these players and the school will forget this season.

“Over the last 20 years I have had the privilege of coaching some great student-athletes, and while each group had its own memorable events, this year there was just something different,” said Nanes. “There was talent but something much more than that. Carrying 20 girls on the team with only seven playing regularly in matches seems like a recipe for disaster, however, the support for the team as a whole and camaraderie was admirable. If you weren’t on the court, you were cheering and encouraging your teammates. The entire squad earned and deserved the title of City Champions, and it will be nice to have ‘2024’ printed along with ‘1978’ listed on the banner hanging in the gymnasium.”