Ocean City falls in semifinals
LINWOOD – Third-seeded Mainland Regional made it to the finals of the South Jersey Group III sectional Tuesday afternoon against top-seeded Moorestown, which beat Ocean City 4-1 in the semifinals to reach the finals.
Mainland did it by upsetting the tournament’s second seed, Clearview, by a 4-1 score, though it required a pair of three-set matches to accomplish it.
The Mustangs shut out Toms River East East 5-0 in the opening round and then topped No. 6 Lacey in the quarterfinals.
Against Clearview, first singles Khushi Thakkar beat Carlee Cristella, 6-2, 6-2; Mustang teammate Hannah Carson fell to Clearview’s Sarah Crawford in a close match, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); Mustang Christina Htay won at third singles over Emily Miscioscia, 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; first doubles Maddie Dennis and Samantha Goldberg beat their Clearview opponents, Brooke McGuigan and Megan McLaughlin, in three sets, losing the first one 4-6, then following that with 6-3, 6-1 sets to win the match. At second singles, Mustangs Anna Geubtner and Elizabeth Ong triumphed over McKenzie McDowell and Noelle Gregg, 6-0, 6-3.
The Mustangs were at Moorestown after the Sentinel sports section went to press Tuesday afternoon.
Ocean City falls
to top seed
Although Moorestown earned a bye in the first round and swept Central Regional in the second round, Ocean City (13-5) was able to claim at least one match.
Catherine Stempin, a freshman playing second singles, won her match against Kaitlyn Burkhart in a third-set tiebreaker, 10-5, after losing the first set 6-2 and winning the second set 6-3.
Moorestown’s Lia Stelbich topped Alexis Allegretto at first singles, 6-0, 6-2; third singles Erica Zhang beat Charis Holmes, 6-2, 6-2; first doubles Laura Sullivan and Charlotte Morrison beat Ocean City’s Noelle Graham and Ciera Howard, 6-1, 6-1; and at second doubles, in a tight match, Quakers Priya Panganamamula and Isabella Moccio got by Red Raiders Paige Brown and Taylor Pontari, 7-5, 6-3.
To get to the semifinals, Ocean City, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 13 Cherry Hill West 5-0.
Allegretto gave up only one game in her win at first singles. Stempin, at second singles, Holmes, at third, Howard and Graham, at first doubles, and Brown and Pontari, at second doubles, all won without losing a game.
Against Toms River South (12-2) in the quarterfinals, Ocean City won 4-1.
Allegretto took first singles 6-4, 6-4 over Emma Grunin; Stempin beat Janelle Blaszka 6-3, 6-1 at second singles and Holmes beat Abbie Greek 6-1, 6-0 at third singles.
First doubles Howard and Graham lost in the most competitive match of the day to Rylee Hussey and Arianna Rios. The Ocean City duo lost the first set 3-6, them came back to win the second set 6-4. The third set went 24 games before Howard and Graham fell 11-13.
At second doubles, Brown and Liz Drain beat Angelina Devivi and Alexis Kaye 6-4, 6-2.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
