Dragons On Fire in Season Opener

Captain and senior Alvin Chen of the Dragons, Stuyvesant’s boys’ handball team, faced off against his Chelsea Career and Technical Education opponent to open up their game early in the season. He dominated in a 21-11 win, finishing with a kill and three aces and setting the tone for the rest of the match, a 4-1 Dragon victory.

Though he started off sluggish, going down 5 points, Chen eventually came back to win the game. “I liked how Alvin came back though [he was] down a lot and [was able to] start the Dragons out strong in an important match,” coach Bernard Feigenbaum said.

The Dragons are 7-0 this season, unsurprising given they’ve lost two games in the past four years. As the match against Chelsea continued, the crowd erupted as they watched seniors and first doubles Moatasim Butt and Chancey Lau. The duo prevailed 21-20, sealing the victory for the first match of the season with last year’s captain James Young (‘17) in attendance.

Last season’s end proved bittersweet, as eight out of their 12 total players were graduating. Though the team this year initially approached the season as only a rebuilding season, seniors Chen, Butt, and Lau are all surpassing expectations.

The team also has players past their singles capable of dominating matches. Third singles and sophomore Danny Wu defeated his opponent 21-6. Senior Austin Leung and sophomore Oliver Cai of second doubles were also able to quickly knock off their opponents 21-9. This depth will be key for Stuyvesant deeper in the season.

Even with another strong start to this season, the Dragons will need to exorcise their playoff demons. Last season, fifth seed Stuyvesant lost to Fort Hamilton High School in the quarterfinals. The year prior, the Dragons were upset by 13-seeded Cardozo, again in the quarterfinals. Given the deep, veteran team they have (seven seniors) and another undefeated start, another run appears to be on the horizon.