LINWOOD — The Mainland Mustang girls tennis team lost for the first time this season, knocking them out of the reconfigured South Jersey Group III tournament.
The Ocean City High School tennis team also lost in the sectionals, but in the Group II tournament.
This season, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association combined sections, putting the Central Jersey teams into the South Jersey sectional and making only one North Jersey section.
The Mainland Regional High School team earned the top seed in South Jersey Group III after winning 12 straight matches this season against no losses. After a bye, they defeated No. 16 seed Central Regional 5-0 in the first round.
First singles Riya Dabas, second singles Yasmine Saloum and third singles Hana Saloum didn’t give up a game in their matches against Central. First doubles Remy Ponzio and Macenzi Campbell beat their opponents 6-1, 6-3, and second doubles Brett Heist and Keelyn McLaughlin won their match 6-2, 6-1.
The Mustangs then went on to beat Schalick 5-0 and Egg Harbor Township 3-2 in regular-season games before heading into the quarterfinals, where they faced West Windsor-Plainsboro North, the No. 8 seed, on Oct. 6. Although seeded eighth, the team is one of the best in the state, Mainland head coach Eileen Fortis said. The school is in Plainsboro in Middlesex County.
The team won the North Jersey section 2 Group III sectional title last season.
Early rounds
Mainland earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament, giving it home court advantage.
“It was nice to be able not to travel for two hours,” Fortis said. Smiling, she added, “The girls would probably rather travel because they love to stop at Wawa or for pizza or something on the way home, so they’re probably not as thrilled to be home, but it is nice to be at our home courts for sure.”
Although seeded lower, Fortis noted their playoff opponents “are always in the top of Central … and I want to say they’re probably one of the top four teams in all of Central and South combined. So yeah, they’re a really strong team. It’s great to get the experience of playing people of this level.”
Fortis knew they would be a difficult opponent and didn’t catch a break with the Mustangs’ third singles out with an injury.
Their eighth-ranked player, Haley Lees, stepped in to fill that role.
The Mustangs lost to West Windsor-Plainsboro North 5-0.
Dabas fell to Sarah Henderson 6-2, 6-1. Yasmine Saloum lost 6-1, 6-1 to Maahi Patmidi and Lees, filling in at third singles, lost 6-0, 6-0.
Ponzio and Campell lost to Isabella Abrigo and Yashica Tanuku 6-0, 6-2, at first doubles and at second doubles, Larah Ghosh and Angelina Gao topped Heist and McLaughlin 6-3, 6-2.
Ocean City
The Red Raider girls entered the South Jersey sectional as the No. 4 seed with a 12-3 record, having lost twice to Mainland and once to Middle Township.
Ocean City earned a bye to start and then beat No. 13 seed Cinnaminson 5-0 in the first round with the singles players and first doubles each giving up only a single game.
Cecelia Mirksy at first singles and Sydney Halliday at third singles won 6-1, 6-0, as did first doubles Annabella Terruso and Isabella Bailey. Anna Wisnefski at second singles won 6-0, 6-1. At second doubles, Raiders Megan Hope and Bridget Higgins won their match 6-1, 6-3.
After beating two more Cape-Atlantic League foes in regular season play, Egg Harbor Township 3-2 and Cedar Creek 4-1, the Red Raiders went up against No. 5 seed Rumson-Fair Haven in the quarterfinals on Oct. 6, losing 5-0.
Mirsky fell 6-0, 6-0 to Molly Martin, and Wisnefski and Halliday won only a single game each to Elizabeth Casey and Norah Walz, respectively. First doubles Terruso and Bailey lost 6-1, 6-1 to Tessa Walz and Hoi Chan, and at second doubles, Rumson-Fair Haven’s Bryn Robinson and Bella Gessell beat Hope and Higgins 6-2, 7-5.
Rumson-Fair Haven, in northern Monmouth County, made it to the semifinals in Central Jersey Group II last season.
The day after their sectional loss, Ocean City coach Tom Ballezzi’s girls avenged their earlier loss to Middle Township, beating the Panthers 3-2 to improve their season record to 14-4.
Against Middle (16-5), Mirsky beat Panther Ella Leahy at first singles 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3), Halliday topped Lyndsey McDevitt at third singles 6-3, 6-3, and first doubles Terruso and Bailey won 7-5, 6-1 over Middle’s Julianna Sittineri and Alex Grier. Middle’s second singles, Morgan Sharpe, topped Wisnefski 6-3, 6-4. At second doubles, the match went into a tie-breaker before Casey Day and Blake Barnoski beat Raiders Hope and Higgins 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6).
For both teams, it is on to the South Jersey individual tournament and then the Cape-Atlantic League tournament.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
