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Louise and Daniel Soifer have won two championships in the annual Pilot Pen Tennis Family Classic. On Thursday, they will go for a third.
The Soifers, who play out of the Long Ridge Club, meet Trish and Danny Pavoni of Fairfield in Thursday's final in the Mother and Child 14-and-under division. Louise and Daniel won four matches against opponents from throughout New England to reach the final, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. The Soifers defeated Jennifer Hornsby and James Keiler of Meriden in each of the past two finals. Both were won in third-set tiebreakers.
"Last year was the tensest match we've played,'' says Louise, who teamed with Daniel for a 15-13 win in the tiebreaker. "It went back and forth before we finally won. My whole family was going crazy."
Teamwork is key to their success. "Over the years, we've worked well together,'' says Daniel, who will be a freshman at Solomon Schechter School of Westchester. "There's not too much fighting on the court." Louise, a standout for the Stamford High tennis team who also played at Emerson College, says Daniel's solid groundstrokes allow her to play the net. "Daniel does a great job setting up the point for me to poach and put the point away,'' Louise says.
Louise's brother and father also play for Long Ridge. Brother Mark Kaplan was a three-time All-American at the University of California-Irvine. In a match for Long Ridge earlier this year, three generations of Louise's family were on the court simultaneously.
Although they have won the Family Classic in the past, they get charged up at the prospect of playing for another title. "It's a great feeling,'' Louise says. "It's pressure, but it's fun. He loves to go out and play in front of a crowd. He's a ham."
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