Leading off today: Hold off on doing the around-the-world-360 with your eyeballs when you read about Howie Arons' boys vs. girls rant, because the longtime boys tennis coach at Cardozo in the PSAL isn't entirely wrong.

   The Daily News reports top-seeded Beacon beat Cardozo for the PSAL boys 'A' crown at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday. The score was 3-2, and the decisive point came from senior Hannah Berner, who plays alongside the boys because the Manhattan school doesn't have a girls team.

   First things first: Berner is absolutely entitled to participate, both by the rule of law and the rule of common sense. As is the case with a lot of metro New York players, she has a national ranking — No. 11 in the USTA's Eastern standings for girls ages 18 and under — and should have a chance to show off her ability in scholastic sports just like numerous other ranked players in the PSAL.

   But there is a bigger issue going on here.

   "She's a girl on a boys team," Arons told the paper. "They should have a girls team. They need a girls team."

   Yes, they do need a girls team. Cardozo has a girls team, and the squad won the PSAL girls championship in the fall with the help of Leighann Sahagun, ranked No. 2 in the USTA girls Eastern 16-and-under group. If Cardozo didn't have a girls team, she could have been picking up a crucial point somewhere in the boys lineup on Friday.

   Beacon coach Bayard Faithfull said his school has asked for permission to field a girls team, but the PSAL told the paper that the lack of access to courts for practice and matches in the fall is an issue.

   Which begs the question: If someone's scaring up court time for the boys in the spring, why can't it be done for the girls in the fall?

   Dinan's finale coming up: Dan Dinan's 31-year run as golf coach at Tappen Zee concludes tomorrow with a match against Ramapo and next Tuesday at the Rockland County championships. He began the week with a 396-95-10 record.

   Dinan, 79, is the longest-tenured educator and coach at Tappan Zee — he's the last member of the school's original 1960-61 staff and has served as a math teacher, assistant principal and basketball coach. He still substitute teaches in the district and works at Rockland Country Club.

   Dinan landed his first set of clubs in Easton, Pa., at the age of 12 while delivering newspapers.

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse

   "I walked up to a house and there was a bag of clubs sitting there with the garbage," Dinan told The Journal News. "I picked those clubs up, forgot all about delivering the papers and ran home with them."

   Tennis milestone: Beacon boys tennis coach Dave Ryley won his 200th match yesterday with a 5-2 win over over Walter Panas to wrap up a 9-7 season with a young lineup.

   "Going 9-7 is a real tribute to how the kids stepped up," said Ryley, who started coaching in 1987.

   Striking early and often: Clarence leadoff batter Valerie Nappo homered on the first pitch of an 8-0 softball victory over Frontier. It was the third time this season she's led off the game with a home run for the Red Devils.

   Nappo, who has a school-record seven homers, also had a bases-loaded double in support of Jennifer Sansano's 17-strikeout hurling.

   Tobacco suspension: Suffern baseball standout Robbie Aviles was suspended for five games for violating the school's substance abuse policy by possessing chewing tobacco on school grounds, The Journal News reported.

   The junior pitcher (6-0, 0.70 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 40 innings) served the first game yesterday during a 5-3 win vs. North Rockland, and he should be able to return for the first round of sectional play.

   ""You go into the locker room you find tins of Skol all over the place. ... All sports," coach Ron Gamma told the paper. "You'd be shocked. You open up a locker at the end of the school year — piles of tins. So it's an idiocy that the kids are involved with. He got caught with it in the building and no backing off."

   Extra points: Auburn forfeited its baseball game to Oswego because both of its coaches were ejected with the Maroons behind in the fourth inning, 3-1 . . . Pittsford Mendon eighth-grader Gavin Hall won the Section 5 boys golf championship with a 2-under-par 70 at Brook-Lea Country Club despite a broken ring fingeron his right hand. . . . Assistant John Lombardi has been promoted to varsity football coach at Midlakes, which has not had a winning season since 2000. He takes over for Chris Moyer, who begins work on an administrative degree. Lombardi coached at Red Jacket for two seasons before arriving at Midlakes in 2007. . . . Gary DeCesare, highly successful at St. Raymond's before leaving for a basketball job at DePaul four seasons ago, has resurfaced at St. Rita's High in Chicago.