Saturday, October 13, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

OLD TAPPAN – Tenafly has been about as perfect as a girls tennis team could be this season as the Lady Tigers already have league and county titles to their credit accompanied by an undefeated record to their credit. Yet their season was not yet fulfilled as there is one title that that has eluded them for the past three years as Tenafly has lost in the section three straight times. This year, the Tigers took the North 1, Group 2 title home by force.

The top-seed swept all five matches to remain unbeaten and earned a trip to Mercer County Park for the Group 2 semifinals with a 5-0 victory over second-seeded Pascack Hills.

“It feels good to finally win one of these,” said Tenafly head coach Anthony Zorovich. “I thought we started really strong and that settled down any nerves we had. To play in a section final in any sport is a lot of pressure. But these girls rose to the occasion as they have all year. We have been improving steadily throughout the season and we’ve been gearing up for this moment.”

Pascack Hills’ Nicole Eisbrouch hung tough with Tenafly sensation Akiko Okuda in the first set, but the diminutive freshman held serve to close out the first set and won the next six games for a 6-4, 6-0 to put Tenafly’s first point on the board.

Second singles and third singles were expected to be slots that were up for grabs, but it was evident early that this day would be all Tenafly. Neither Courtney Lee nor Alli Grabell dropped a game in the first set. After trailing 2-1 to previously undefeated Michelle Feldman in the second set, Lee ripped off the final five games of the match to put the Tigers one point away from victory. Grabell clinched the title minutes later in a 6-0, 6-3 win over Gabby Drucker.

“We were all excited before the match, but we settled down because we had a job to do,” said Grabell. “It has been hard work this season to get to where we are, but we wanted it to be worth it. We knew that if we didn’t win this match, it would be a really disappointing finish for us. It’s really exciting to get this far in the state tournament and we’re just trying to represent Tenafly the best that we can.”

To show how deep the Tigers are as a team, Renee and Ellyn Kojanis played first and second singles last year for the section finalists. This year, they are teamed together at first doubles and came up with their most impressive win of the season yesterday. The fiery duo used late breaks in both sets to hand Brittany Palish and Sarah Spellman their first loss of the season, 6-4, 6-3.

The closest match was at second doubles with another straight-set victory by Tenafly being the end result. Danielle Claisse and Rachel Gerber held off a late charge by Victoria Newman and Alana Davis of Pascack Hills (11-2) to notch a 6-4, 6-4 win.

With the triumph, Tenafly (16-0) won the North 1, Group 2 crown and will advance to Wednesday’s Group 2 semifinals. They will face South Jersey Group 2 champ Haddonfield (25-2) at Mercer County Park at 11:00. The winner of that match will play again at 3:00 p.m. for the overall Group 2 title and a berth in the Tournament of Champions.

“Tenafly is an excellent team and they have a real shot to do something special,” said Pascack Hills head coach Eric Ganz, who will have his entire starting lineup returning next fall. “Outside of first singles, I think we came out a little tight and never really got going. But the bottom line is that we were just outclassed today. You have to lose these types of matches against great teams before you can win them. With the strength and the depth of their lineup, I think Tenafly really has a shot to go far. This could be just the tip of the iceberg for them.”

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