Friday, October 4, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Ariella Omar won her third straight county title this past weekend and was off the court first on Thursday in Ramapo's 5-0 win over Mt. Olive in their state tournament opener.

FRANKLIN LAKES – If every one of Ramapo's girls tennis players had played up to their seeded position in the Bergen County Group 3-4 Tennis Tournament this past weekend, then the Green Raiders would have finished with a grand total of 11 team points. Had Northern Highlands, the top seed, done the same it would have picked up 15 team points and a comfortable run to the county championship. The fact that it was Ramapo that finished with 15 points and the title is a testament to just how well the Green Raiders played from top to bottom in their lineup.

It was the work of players like Taylor Thum and Linda Lee, who entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed and lost the first set of their quarterfinal match, 1-6, against fifth-seeded Bergen Tech and then came back to win 6-1, 6-1. Then, in the semifinals against second-seeded Fair Lawn, Thum and Lee came back from a 1-5 second set deficit, won the tiebreaker 7-2 and then beat top-seeded Northern Highlands 6-2, 6-2, in the final to win a county title for themselves and help set their team up for the team title.

“As it turned out, the semifinals were harder than the finals. We came back from 1-5 in the second set and won the tiebreaker and that was great for our confidence,” said Thum. “There was so much pressure in the final. We really wanted to win that one because it was not only the county final, it was against Highlands, our biggest rival.“

Taylor Thum is half of the Ramapo doubles team that won a county title.

All three of Ramapo's singles players made it to the county final with junior Ariella Omar winning the second flight. Omar was the No. 2 seed going in ran through the bracket, beating Northern Highlands' Madison Hite, 6-1, 6-4, in the final. Omar won her third straight county title and her second in a row at second singles.

“I knew that for us to win the tournament that Ariella had to win the whole thing at second singles. She did that and she was just phenomenal,” said Ramapo head coach Kim Marchese. “She is a three-year county champion and she just did her thing. When the chips are down, she works as hard on the court as anyone I have ever coached.”

Ramapo had two other finalist as first singles player Lisa Jouravleva reached the championship match for the fourth straight year before falling to Fair Lawn's Valerie Shklover and Abbey Roberts made it to the title match before losing to Fair Lawn's Jessica Perchuk.

“Being a senior, I really wanted to win [the team title], especially after last year when we lost to Highlands. We lost to them earlier this year in the regular season, so to come back and with the counties was great,” said Jouravleva. “For me, I have been to the final four straight times and I really wanted to win in my senior year for the first time. I've never beaten the Fair Lawn girl [Shklover], she is so good, but I am happy that my team won.”

Roberts won a marathon, three-and-a-half hour match in the semifinals at third singles and when she took the court against Perchuk for the final, she was understandably spent and secure in the knowledge that her team had already wrapped up the overall title.

All three Ramapo singles players won 6-0, 6-0 against Mt. Olive, including senior Abbey Roberts.

Now that the county tournament is in the rear-view mirror, the Green Raiders turned their attention to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament that got underway on Thursday with a dominant performance against Mt. Olive. The competition will get stiffer for the third-seeded Raiders (12-1) as there is a potential rematch with Highlands, the No. 2 seed in the semifinals, but they got off to a start by winning 48 of the 50 games played against Mt. Olive.

All three singles players – Jouravleva, Roberts and Omar – won 6-0, 6-0 and were off the court in less than an hour. Roberts and Omar flip-flopped flights as Roberts won at second singles and Omar was the quickest winner of the day at third singles. The doubles flights also switched as Rachael Swensen and Danielle Grossman won 6-0, 6-0 at second doubles and Thum and Lee won 6-0, 6-2 at first doubles.

With the states now underway, Ramapo has its goals clearly defined.

“We are going to Mercer [County Park],” said Roberts, speaking of the venue that hosts the state finals. “We are going. We went freshman year and our goal is to get back there as seniors.”

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