Bulldogs girls tennis gets off to fast start in '07
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer

METUCHEN - The Metuchen High School girls tennis team opened the season last week with an impressive 4-1 win over South Amboy.

With a totally revamped singles lineup, the Bulldogs showed no signs of slowing down after a 9-7 season and an appearance in the state sectional finals in 2006.

With the No. 1 singles player of a year ago, Melissa Martin, now in college, senior Christina Mancheno has taken over the top spot and gotten off to a strong start with a 6-4, 6-0 in her opening match. Mancheno gained some singles experience last season at No. 3, but missed the majority of the season with a shoulder injury.

"She's very excited to be back," Metuchen head coach Rob Strauss said. "She's more patient on the court this year and she's really minimized her mistakes. She kept the ball in the court and did a nice job."

Senior Chrissy Wooding has taken over at No. 2 singles with last year's departure of Srivani Rachakonda. Wooding was dominant in her first match of the season, winning 6-0, 6-0.

"Chrissy is realizing how successful she can be attacking short balls and being aggressive," Strauss said. "If she continues to make her opponents pay for weaker shots, then she'll be very successful."

Sophomore Cori Zack replaced Amy Rutland at No. 3 and started her singles career with a 6-0, 6-1 win.

"Cori is the first underclassman to play singles since I've been coaching here at Metuchen," Strauss said. "It's very exciting, and it is a good opportunity for Chrissy to do well this year and to go on and have some really nice years in the future."

Senior Katie Ford and junior partner Paula Clarkson opened the year with the team's lone loss against South Amboy at No. 1 doubles. Both bring varsity experience to the court this fall.

"They have plenty of doubles experience, but just not any experience playing together," Strauss said. "They expected to get off to a better start, but they just didn't play well in the opener. They'll be looking for redemption this week."

At No. 2 doubles, senior Tiffany Mongiardini and junior Chrissy Magruder won their first match 6-3, 6-1.

"Our doubles teams remain a work in progress," Strauss said. "We still have other players that will see doubles action at some point in the season. We have quite a few players that are all talented doubles players."

Caroline Finden, Jen O'Neill and Adrienne Michalski are all expected to see plenty of action on the doubles court.

After beginning the week against South River, the Bulldogs will resume play at 3:45 p.m. today at Spotswood.

"It definitely feels good to start the season off with a win, but this week should offer a tougher test for us and be a little more challenging," Strauss said. "It should give us an opportunity to see where we stand among the elite teams in the Blue Division."