Sunday, October 18, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

WEST WINDSOR – Entering Saturday’s state singles and doubles tennis tournaments, three North Jersey singles players were still alive and one doubles team remained, but when play concluded for the day there was only one North Jersey player was left standing. It was Ramapo’s Amanda Muliawan.

The sophomore right-hander dropped just six games in two matches en route to her first state final berth, and the first by a singles player in school history. In her first match of the day Muliawan reached the semifinals for the second straight year with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Haddonfield’s Taylor Ng at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

“She was a player that blocked back a lot of shots, so I had to be a little more patient than I would be normally,” said Muliawan. “I’m a player that just likes to blast away at a ball any chance I get, but that doesn’t work against everyone. I try to force my style on my opponent, but I also try to adjust when I need to, which is what I had to do in this match.”

Angelika Dabu of County Prep and Akiko Okuda of Tenafly each fell by scores of 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-2, respectively, in the quarterfinal round. Tenafly’s first doubles duo, Anya Sahaydachny and Ada Lin, also fell in the state doubles tournament in the quarterfinal round, 6-3, 6-2. That marked the end of a tough two days for Tenafly. After a fantastic season, Tenafly dropped a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Ramapo in the North 1, Group 3 final on Friday.

“We just ran into a great team in Ramapo and today into some of the better players in the state,” said Tenafly head coach Anthony Zorovich. “Akiko (Okuda) ran into a tough lefty, who mixed up her play very well. Our doubles team gave away a few too many points, which you can’t do against this level of competition. But our team wouldn’t be where they are without these girls. We really had a great year. It just didn’t end up the way we wanted it to, that’s all.”

That left Muliawan as the only semifinalist and she breezed into the finals without a hiccup. Facing Gina Li of Hillsborough, who made an upset-laden run to the semifinals, Muliawan took control early and never let her foot off the gas pedal. She broke Li’s first service game of each set in cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

In the state singles final, she will face Tina Jiang of Gill St. Bernard’s, who also won both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches in straight sets. Muliwan will look to become Bergen County’s second straight singles champion. Becton Regional’s Amy Simidian, now at Penn State, won last year. That match will be played on Sunday morning at Mercer County Park at 9 a.m.

“Amanda knows what is ahead of her and she is as driven to succeed as they come,” said Ramapo head coach Kim Marchese. “She played her semifinal opponent before and I think that helped her mentally. Amanda just went about her business today and tried to attack whenever she could. I know she is playing a similar type of player in (Jiang) in the final, one who can really hit the ball but is also extremely athletic. It should be a very entertaining match.”

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