It was their first loss of the season
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
LINWOOD – Perennial sectional tennis champion Moorestown narrowly defeated Mainland Regional last week for the South Jersey Group III title. The Mustangs forced the match into three sets before falling 3-2 for the team’s only loss of the season.
Mainland coach Chris Connolly would have preferred to be on the other side of the 3-2 score, but he was proud of his boys “for playing so tough. They left everything on the courts.”
“That’s all I can ask for as a coach and as an educator, to see these guys compete to their best,” he added. “It didn’t work out in the scores for us. I was disappointed in the outcome but not the effort.”
That was verified by the scores in three of the matches that easily could have gone either way.
The championship match began at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, and wasn’t over until past 6 p.m., with the deciding game coming after a full 2 hours and 50 minutes into play.
Mainland second singles Michael Walton and third singles Alex Wise won their matches but had to go three sets to do it. Walton beat Moorestown’s Michael Hu 6-0, 4-6, 7-5. Wise topped Quaker Aidan Nemiroff 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5.
The second doubles match was the other one that was so close to going the other way as Mustangs Joe Dib and Evan Himmelsein battled through three sets before falling to Quakers Deven Patel and Gregory Giannone, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 7-5.
“We gave them a fight and I am proud of the boys for fighting that long,” Connolly said. “It’s a lot of pressure for an hour or two hours, but it was going on three hours for most of our guys. When you think about athletic performances, a three-hour intense final is a great moment, but it’s also very demanding.”
Mainland’s previously unbeaten first doubles team – that won the Cape-Atlantic League Championship earlier this season – lost to Moorestown’s Ajay Shah and Sohan Vidiayala, 6-3, 6-1. Mustang first singles Daniel Wise lost to Quaker Naveen Shah, 6-0, 6-1.
Pushing a team that has won more than 40 sectional titles “is a testament to these kids. Moorestown is a perennial favorite,” Connolly said. “For our team to battle for over three hours, I’m very proud of our boys.”
He pointed out it was the first time his first doubles team lost all year after more than 20 wins in a row in matches and tournaments. He said Palaia and Deshpande played really well, especially in the second set, pushing many games to deuce.
Walton, at second singles, won his first set easily, but Connolly said his opponent was able to figure him out and stepped up to win the second set. “Michael countered in the third set and was mentally tough, sticking it out 7-5. It was a good experience not just for the win, but to see him grow as a player,” he said.
Sophomore Alex Wise had a closer match all the way through. “He’s only lost in tournaments for us so every time he’s played … he hasn’t lost for us. That’s amazing because you look at that guy he played from Moorestown and he was definitely the underdog in that match. He surprised a lot of people and it’s surprising when you first think about it but it’s not when you see what he’s done for us. He’s a competitor. He just battles. It’s going to be nice to have him for two more years.”
The team is going to lose only Daniel Wise at first singles to graduation. Outside of his younger brother, Alex, the rest of the varsity lineup is all juniors.
“We’re going to miss Daniel who’s been on varsity for four years and has done a great job for us,” the coach said. “His loss is going to be felt, but at the same time Daniel helped re-establish the program and hopefully we’ll have another person step up so we can improve upon this year.”
“We have six of our guys coming back next year so we’re really looking forward to that,” Connolly said. “All four doubles players are juniors so we have the CAL champions and the CAL runners-up coming back next year.”
Speaking of the CAL tournament finals, Deshpande and Palaia had to fend off Dibs and Himmelstein. Their match went to three sets, showing the competitive spirit is just as strong within the team as when they play other teams.
“They beat up on each other all the time and know (each others’) strengths and weaknesses,” Connolly said. “That was a three-hour match in itself. We’re used to battling it out. You don’t want to get to a third set but if it does come to that our guys are fighting to the end.”
Of the 17 matches the team had so far this season, the Mustangs won 11 of them 5-0 and the other five 4-1. They wrap up their season against Middle Township this week. They beat the Panthers 4-1 when they met up early in the season. The Mustangs are the National Conference champion in the CAL. This is the first year Mainland has been in the National Conference.
A lot of tennis teams had question marks coming into the season after the 2020 spring season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We knew we had a good team but not how good,” Connolly said. “They really stepped it up. There was a lot of development that we didn’t have last year. Alex didn’t play any varsity matches until this year. Michael Walton, even though he’s a junior, was injured his freshman year just before the season started and lost last year because of the coronavirus. As strong a player as Michael is, he and Alex didn’t have much experience. Daniel Wise, our first singles, only played doubles his first two years. It was nice to see how everyone stepped it up.
“The amazing thing is from a program standpoint, everyone from our first singles player down to our last guy on the roster improved dramatically. It’s nice to see that work ethic and production. And they had fun. That’s the two things – you want to get better and you want to have fun.”