Thursday, October 18, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

WEST WINDSOR – Kaitlin Pfisterer of Immaculate Heart Academy and Alli Grabell of Tenafly are three years apart in age and knew little, if anything, about one another before Wednesday afternoon. The only similarity between the hard-hitting Pfisterer and the crafty Grabell was that they were both singles players for strong teams.and found more in common when they both found themselves as the last players left on the court in a tie match with state titles and Tournament of Champions berths on the line.

Pfisterer, a freshman, and Grabell, a senior, both responded to the pressure for their respective teams. Pfisterer pulled out a three-set victory and Grabell held off a late charge as IHA repeated as the Non-Public A State champion and Tenafly won its first Group 2 title since 1976 with 3-2 victories.

“This is an amazing accomplishment for any team that gets this far,” said Tenafly head coach Anthony Zorovich. “There are somewhere around (600) high schools in the state and there are only six teams left and we’re one of them. We’ve worked so hard to get to this point and the results have followed.”

IHA appeared to be ready to steamroll Parochial A South champ Holy Spirit when it won the first set in four of the five flights. However, Holy Spirit rebound to send four matches to a third set. Third singles player Dana Ferrari notched a point easily for IHA, meaning it needed to win just two of the remaining four matches to move on.

Ally Landers got a point at first singles by rebounding from a slow start to beat Paige Frost, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. After both of IHA’s doubles teams lost in a third set, Pfisterer knew the fate of the Blue Eagles’ entire season hinged on the third set in her match.

“There was definitely some pressure, but I tried to block it out,” said Pfisterer. “I just tried to focus on my match and take it one point at a time. I had to pick my spots and attack when I had the chance.”

She started to pounce on the second serve of Holy Spirit’s Alex Santoro. It was a move that proved to be effective as she broke her twice in the third set en route to a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 victory, giving IHA the win and another Tournament of Champions berth.

“A lot of the girls on this team are so young that they don’t know what to expect, and I think that’s a good thing,” said IHA head coach Kelly Oberle.

Tenafly’s second doubles tandem of Danielle Claisse and Rachel Gerber did not drop a game in notching a point, but losses at first singles and first doubles forced the Tigers to win the final two matches against defending Group 2 champ Manasquan if they wanted to advance to their first-ever T of C.

Courtney Lee had to deal with not only a sizable crowd around her, but the fiery antics of her opponent Farrah Smoke. Smoke showed the emotion rarely seen in high school tennis and had the baseline game to back it up. However, Lee was able to keep the ball deep and consistently frustrate her opponent. She broke early in each set on her way to a 6-2, 6-3 win.

“It was definitely a different match than I would have expected,” said Lee. “I just wanted to play my game and stay as consistent as possible. I felt that if I could just keep points going, she would get impatient. The key was to try and let her make the mistake.”

That brought the match down to Grabell at third singles, who was in control the most of the way until Laura Turner changed to more of a defensive style of play. After holding a 5-2 lead and two match points in the second set, Grabell dropped the next two games, trimming her margin for error.

“I was very confident going into the match and I had to get that confidence back,” said Grabell, a senior. “I had to force the action and take advantage of the opportunities I had to put points away.”

She did just that by hitting winners on the first two points of the 10th game on her way to a 6-2, 6-4 victory. The win clinched Tenafly’s first Group 2 championship in over three decades.

North Jersey came into the Group semifinals with six teams, until three of them bowed out in the semifinal round, two of the three with bitter 3-2 defeats.

In Group 1, the Dabu sisters, Angelica and Alexa, won easily in straight sets for County Prep, but the Hurricanes could not notch another point with all three of the other flights losing, also in straight sets against eventual Group 1 champ New Providence. Pompton Lakes also got a strong performance from Ramona Nadres, but it was not enough as they fell 3 ½- 1 ½ to Pennsville.

The most heartbreaking loss came in Group 3. Ramapo lost two matches in third sets, one of them coming in a tiebreak, in a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Moorestown.

Bergen Tech advanced to the Group 4 final with an impressive win over Cherry Hill East. However, they ran into a buzzsaw in undefeated Bridgewater-Raritan. The Knights fought hard in all five matches, but only got a win from first-singles player Amanda Bercovici as their T of C bid fell short.

It is down to the final six teams in the Tournament of Champions, where both North Jersey teams will be in action on Monday. Third-seeded Tenafly will face off against sixth-seeded New Providence, while fourth-seeded Immaculate Heart Academy will take on Parochial B state champ Gill St. Bernard’s, the No. 5 seed.

“This is an unreal feeling, I’m sure it is for any team that gets this far,” added Grabell. “To be able to represent Tenafly so well and to win a state title after over 30 years of not having one is amazing. I think we have done so well because of how close we are as a team. Every player is motivated to do well for one another because we don’t want to let each other down. To get this far is great. But we like being around each other so much that we just want to keep this season going as long as we can.”

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