Monday, October 11, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Fair Lawn freshman Valerie Shklover pulled two upsets in the State Singles Tournament to reach next weekend's quarterfinals.

WEST WINDSOR – Fair Lawn freshman Valerie Shklover was admittedly was losing patience with her game and getting thoughts in her head that her state tournament run was coming to an end. Down 4-1 in the third set of her third-round match in the NJSIAA state singles tournament, she made an important decision to switch gears both physically and mentally. On the fly, she changed her mindset from playing not to lose and losing her cool to being the aggressor and keeping her poise.

That was exactly what Shklover needed as she won six of the final seven games to cap off the biggest upset of the day, a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 victory over fourth-seeded Rachel Pierson of Montgomery. Shklover followed that up with a more workman-like 6-4, 6-2 victory over Lindsay Balsamo of Wall to join another Bergen County freshman, Tenafly’s Rima Asatrian, and New Milford sophomore Kaysee Orozco, in advancing to the NJSIAA state singles quarterfinal round at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

“Valerie (Shklover) went into the first match confident, lost her focus a bit, and got it back at the perfect time,” said Fair Lawn head coach Matthew Markman. “I think her emotions got the best of her at times. But when she is grounded and controls the pace, she is an outstanding player. I think it showed more in her second match (against Balsamo) where she much calmer and played much more consistent in all aspects.”

Shklover took Pierson by surprise by scoring two breaks on her way to cruising to a one-set lead. But Pierson showed why is considered one of the state’s best by pounding her way to winning the second set and a commanding 4-1 lead in the third. While Shklover was on the verge of collapsing mentally, she turned the tables by keeping her groundstrokes in play and staying away from unforced errors.

Late in the third end, it was Pierson who eventually unraveled and Shklover escaped with a thrilling three-set upset.
Having to get back on the court less than two hours later for her fourth round match was no easy task for Shklover. However, Shklover showed poise beyond her years after breaking Balsamo’s serve late in the first for a 4-3 lead and holding serve to take the first set. Once again, it was the opponent who started to lose focus as Balsamo lost her first two service games of the second set on double-faults as Shklover raced out to a 3-0 lead en route to a straight-set victory and a surprising berth in the quarterfinal round.

“I was a little lucky to get out of the first match with the way I lost my focus mentally and made sure I didn’t do that in my second match,” said Shklover. “It was hard to bounce back in the second match. But once I got that break and took the first set, I really started to gain confidence. I stayed aggressive and took some chances and they worked out.”

Tenafly freshman Rima Asatrian did not lose more than two games in any of the four sets she played to reached the quarterfinals.

Asatrian simply overpowered both her third and fourth round opponents. Her serve was not broken in either match and she dropped just five games in four sets on her way to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Adrienne Kaye of Holy Spirit and an impressive 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Taylor Ng of Haddonfield, the state’s top-ranked team, 6-2, 6-0.

“I just tried to get off to a good start and play my game,” said Asatrian, who was this year’s Bergen County Group 3-4 second singles champion. “I didn’t know either of my opponents today and that helped me. I just focused on playing my game, putting the pressure on them, and figure out my opponents’ weaknesses as the match goes on.”

Orozco got a measure of revenge, one that she never thought she would get. After losing to Glen Ridge standout Emma Taylor last year in the third round, the New Milford sophomore met her in the fourth round this year with a thrilling conclusion. After breezing through the first set, Orozco did not win a game in the second set before coming back to win in three, 6-1, 0-6, 6-4. In the process, she become the first New Milford player to ever reach the quarterfinal round in the state singles tournament. She will face third-seeded Gina Li of Hillsborough in the quarterfinals.

In other action, IHA senior Kaitlin Pfisterer won a first-set tiebreak on her way to a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 third-round win over Jackie Wu of J.P. Stevens before falling in straight sets to Kelly Willford of Ridge her fourth round match. The lone team left in the state doubles tourney is the Northern Highlands duo of Alexa Albrecht and Ashley Holleran, who rallied from deficits in both the first and third sets for a marathon 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Adrianna Calandra and Lauren Martin of Montclair Kimberley Academy to advance to the state quarterfinals where they will face top-seeded Emily Bary and Patricia Chau of Millburn.

Both freshmen still remaining in the tournament will be tested in the quarterfinal round. Shklover will look to continue her upset-laden run next Saturday when she takes on Dena Tanenbaum of Red Bank Catholic. Asatrian will face off against top-seeded and last year’s state finalist Tina Jiang of Gill St. Bernard’s. If both can pull upsets, they will meet in the semifinals. Regardless, Bergen County is well-represented in the state singles tournament. From the looks of things this past weekend, they will be for years to come.

“There are some truly outstanding, young players in Bergen County right now,” said Tenafly head coach Anthony Zorovich. “Orozco is real tough and has beaten some good competition. Valerie Shklover of Fair Lawn has a really nice game and she got a real nice win today over Pierson, who is a top-flight player. I thought Rima is just started to realize her potential and she played flawlessly in the second set against a pretty solid player (Ng).

“These girls have all the tools to be successful, it comes to down to poise. They are so good that it’s tough to remember that they are all fourteen years old. This is a great showing for Bergen County this year and we hope it continues next weekend.”

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