Saturday, September 17, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Third singles player Alisha Malla secured the final point that Leonia needed to knock off Ridgefield, 4-1, on Friday afternoon.

LEONIA – For Leonia’s four seniors – Simona Levsky, Miya Okado, Alisha Malla, and Maleyna Marks – the 2011 season caps the end of a wonderful journey through high school tennis. With three section titles already to their credit, this season should be more about just enjoying their last few months together than anything else. However, this core group has tunnel vision and has history on its mind. They are looking to grow with each individual match in hopes of becoming the first team in school history to win four straight sectional titles. On Friday, they took one more step toward that goal against a vastly improved rival.

Ridgefield had just come off a landmark win over Cresskill earlier in the week and was looking for another upset. But Leonia’s strong singles lineup just proved to be too tough for the Royals to handle.

First and second singles players Levsky and Okado won easily and Malla scored the clinching point as Leonia stayed unbeaten on the young season with a 4-1 victory at Ridgefield High School.

“No matter how bad we want to win a section title down the road, our main goal is to focus on the opponent directly in front of us,” said Levsky. “We know what a special accomplishment it would be to win four straight section titles and every day we work hard is another positive towards our ultimate goal. If we give it everything we have out on the court, good things will happen.”

Levsky and Okado have been staples at the top of the Lady Lions’ rotation for the past three seasons. They were both in top form yesterday and they each only dropped a single game to move the Lions one point from victory.

Getting that third point can be elusive at times for most teams, but under longtime head coach Tim Cullen, the Lions always seem to dig deep and find a way to get it.

Moving up from two years of doubles play Malla is getting accustomed to the singles game quickly. After a late break gave her the first set, Malla continued to attack in the second set to record two straight breaks of serve en route to a 6-4, 6-2 triumph that sewed up yet another win for Leonia.

“It’s definitely a different mindset going from doubles to singles, but I’m getting adjusted to it,” said Malla. “The last two years playing tennis and especially doubles, I was more worried about controlling the ball and just keeping it in play without making too many mistakes. Now that I have that down, I try to have a game plan and become a more aggressive player by attacking my opponent’s weaknesses.”

While the match resulted in the first loss of the season for Ridgefield (1-1), it is still feeling good after one of the biggest victories in the program’s history, a 3-2 season-opening win over Cresskill, and were able to notch a point at first doubles. After blowing a big second-set lead and several match points, Ilena Figueroa and Maurein Ahn battled back in a big way to earn a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Victoria Cece and Marks.

Leonia (3-0) got its other point at second doubles when Yuri Higuchi and Zoe Kim were dominated at the net in their 6-1, 6-3 win over Ridgefield’s Nasia Vega and Amy Lee.

The victory over Ridgefield was just another step toward Leonia’s senior class finishing off a rare feat of four section titles in as many years. While there is plenty of season left to play, the seniors can already see the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

“We know if we keep getting better every day that we’re capable of reaching all of our goals,” added Malla. “Every match is an important one because it gives us a chance to get better both as a whole and with rooting on our teammates. For the four seniors, we really want to end the season with a bang. So we’re giving it all we’ve got every single match so hopefully when the season is over, we’ll have no regrets and we’ll achieve something no other team in Leonia has ever done before. That would be amazing.”

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