Thursday, May 24, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Akiko Okuda won 6-1, 6-0 at first singles for Tenafly, which handed Pascack Hills its first loss of the season, 4-1, on Wednesday.

TENAFLY – Preparing for the type of competition it will face in county and state tennis tournaments is always tough for Tenafly. As far and away the top team in the BCSL-American Division, the Tigers rarely get challenged in league play. So to get his players match-tough for the long haul, head coach Anthony Zorovich knew he needed to schedule a top-flight team; a team that was also envisioning a run at county and state titles to bring the best out of his players. He found that on Wednesday in Pascack Hills, a team fresh off an impressive win over Ramapo on Monday.

Pascack Hills was riding high, but ran into a Tenafly team that was on a mission. The Lady Tigers proved that they are not only a team to beat within Bergen County, but also as one of the state’s best sweeping all three singles spots in straight sets en route to a 4-1 win.

Akiko Okuda put together a dominant performance at first singles to get the Tigers off and running. The 5-1 junior showed off her entire repertoire of shots and dropped just one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Gabby Drucker.

Pascack Hills was coming off an impressive win over Ramapo.

The biggest surprise came at third singles. A doubles specialist the past two years, Tenafly’s Rachel Gerber has moved up to third singles this year and has not missed a beat. What was expected to be a swing match turned into a convincing win 6-0, 6-1 win by Gerber over Pascack Hills’ Samantha Cheng.

“Rachel (Gerber) has really improved since last year and she is gaining confidence every day,” said Zorovich. “We know what we have at the top of the lineup with Akiko (Okuda) and Courtney (Lee), but getting that third point against the top teams is always tough. But our doubles teams have been getting more comfortable with one another and Rachel is giving us a lot of stability at third singles.”

Tenafly’s Courtney Lee is one of the best second singles players in the state and has lost just once in the past three seasons, including this one, at that spot. However she was tested in the first set yesterday by a pesky Nicole Eisbrouch. The senior from Pascack Hills matched Lee shot for shot and broke her serve to cut Lee’s lead in the first set to 5-4. In a lengthy 10th game, Eisbrouch saved two game points before Lee held serve to win the set. After dropping the first game of Set 2, she ripped off six straight games to win in straight sets and clinch the victory for Tenafly.

Rachel Gerber gave Tenafly a point with her win at third singles.

“In every big match, you have to make more an effort to stay focused and play tennis the way you know how,” said Lee. “I tried to be precise and hit the ball deep both down the line and cross-court to try and move (Eisbrouch) around. She was really tough and we had a lot of long rallies. I just kept playing my tennis and I was able to pull it out.”

Pascack Hills’ first double tandem of Sarah Spellman and Olivia Cheng won the first set 6-2, before dropping the second, 6-4, against Ada Lin and Anya Sahaydachny of Tenafly. In an entertaining second doubles match, Tenafly’s Danielle Eagan and Jordan Bloom took the first set, 6-4, before Dani Stern and Julie Griggs battled to win the second in a tiebreaker, 7-6.

Although Pascack Hills (7-1) did not technically win a match, the Cowgirls earned a point by splitting both doubles matches. They were called due to darkness after two sets. Although the Cowgirls were saddled with their first loss, it is one head coach Eric Ganz feels can only help in the long run.

PH's Gabby Drucker going for a forehand at first singles.

“This is a good learning experience for us and we’ll take a lesson from this,” said Ganz. “Tenafly is an excellent team and they will be tough for anyone to beat. I loved the effort out of Nicole (Eisbrouch). If she can play the way she did today and we keep improving as a team, we’ll be right there vying for a (Group 2) state title at the end of the year.”

Tenafly is now at 8-0 and primed for another magical run like they had in 2007 when they advanced all the way to the Tournament of Champions final and finished as the No. 2 team in the state.

“I have high expectations for us and we all feel like this is our year,” added Lee. “My freshman year was so much fun and it was an incredible feeling to go that far. We have a very good team. This is our year and we have a really good chance at winning both counties and the states. We had that taste two years ago and now we’re working hard to get back there.”

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