Steinman’s virtuoso performance keeps Horace Mann girls tennis undefeated

Posted

After her virtuoso performance on the tennis court Saturday afternoon, Horace Mann School’s Eva Steinman quickly packed her racket and headed to the Manhattan School of Music to practice for more virtuoso performances on the piano.

Steinman and her Lions teammates have already been making sweet music on the court this season. 

She breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Riverdale Country School’s Annie Reiver, and Horace Mann remained undefeated with a 5-0 victory at Riverdale’s River Campus complex. On Monday, the Lions rolled to a 5-0 win over Poly Prep and they are now 11-0 in the Ivy League Preparatory League and 14-0 overall heading into the season finale at Dalton, which was scheduled for Wednesday. They have lost only one individual match in league play all season.

“It’s really a lot of fun to win together as a team,” said Steinman, a sophomore who also excels in the classroom. “I think we play very aggressively, and we always try to attack and push our opponents back to open up the court to our forehands and expose their weaknesses.”

It is certainly working. Steinman hit a dazzling array of powerful forehands, precision backhands and crisp volleys to go along with a hard serve on Saturday. Fellow sophomore Sydney Katz did the same, as she earned a 6-1, 6-0 win at second singles, and senior captain Jen Reiss won 6-2, 6-1 at third singles.

At first doubles, Sarah Finley and Li Arditi won 6-0, 6-2, and Samantha Stern and Lauren Hooda defeated Janie Hendrickson and Julia Ditkoff, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 at second doubles.

The same set of girls won matches against Poly on Monday, save the new first doubles team of senior captain Rebecca Okin and Anne Rosenblatt.

Head coach Rawlins Troop, who is in his sixth season with the team, believes the key to Horace Mann’s success is the commitment the school puts into the sport.

“We have seven courts at the school, so it’s made a big difference that we have the practice facilities and practice time,” he said, adding that the middle schoolers also play the sport during their physical education period. “Plus, it helps to have great players.”

And the team is a very well-rounded bunch, led by the pianist Steinman.

“I’m just proud of their work ethic,” Troops said. “It’s amazing that they’re able to practice a couple hours a day. They work hard, put in a lot of time. And they laugh at my jokes, which is the key.” 

Eva Steinman, Horace Mann, Lions, Riverdale Country School, Chris Mascaro, Tennis

Comments