Hawks top Westfield, reach section semifinals
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

EDISON - For the third time in as many years the J.P. Stevens High School girls tennis team squared off against Westfield for the NJSIAA North 2 Group IV sectional title.

The Hawks defeated Westfield in 2004 and avenged last year's 3-2 loss with a 4-1 victory last week to advance to face Bergen Tech in today's Group IV semifinal match. The match is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start at Mercer County Park.

"We had a little help this year with Westfield missing its No. 2 singles player," Stevens head coach Ellen Pisano said. "Westfield decided not to break up its doubles teams but our No. 2 doubles team played extremely well. I couldn't believe how fast they were off the court."

Stevens' No. 2 doubles team of Marissa Monaco and Daria Wong cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 straight set win and took some pressure off the rest of the team.

"No. 2 doubles has not always been a winning position for us this season," Pisano said. "I've juggled the lineup throughout the season, but Marissa and Daria have really stepped up. They picked up a lot of confidence in their win over North Hunterdon in the sectional semifinals and they've been on fire since."

At No. 1 singles, Luba Smolensky was victorious over Westfield's Nikki Reich. Both Smolensky and Reich were seeded in the Nos. 9-16 bracket at the state singles tournament earlier this month, so last week's meeting looked to be a marquee matchup. It started out as such as Smolensky needed a 7-5 tiebreaker to take the opening set 7-6.

"The rallies were so long that some of our matches were completed before Luba had finished her first set," Pisano said. "I think the win at No. 2 doubles and at No. 3 singles took some pressure off Luba and she was able to win easily in the second set, 6-1."

Nancy Chen won at No. 2 singles 6-2, 6-4, while Rebecca Quan was a 6-3, 6-2 winner at No. 3 singles. Suhail-Sindhu and partner Stephanie Kan suffered the lone loss for Stevens.

"I was very impressed with the 4-1 victory," Pisano said. "It shows that we didn't just squeak by with a win."

The Hawks reached the Westfield match with a thrilling 3-2 win over North Hunterdon in the sectional semis. Smolensky won easily but the same could not be said of Chen and Quan. Chen cruised to take the first set but quickly fell behind 0-4 in the second set before rallying to take the set 7-6.

Despite taking the opening set, 7-5, and holding a 4-1 lead in the second set, Quan could not close the match and ended up losing the match in three sets.

"She just couldn't finish her opponent off," Pisano said. "It was a tough match with everybody playing a tie-breaker at some point."

Even Monaco and Wong had trouble closing out their match. After taking the first set 6-4 and leading 5-2 in the second set, a tie-breaker was needed to take the set and win the match.

Should the Hawks win the match this morning over Bergen Tech, they will advance to the Group IV title match to face the winner of the other semifinal match between East Brunswick and Cherry Hill East. Stevens has never advanced to a Group IV title match.

"We've never gotten beyond the semifinals," Pisano said. "It'd be nice to get to that next round."