OCEAN CITY — It was proved once again that every contest between rival Ocean City and Mainland teams is a fight, and this fight had ramifications for the playoffs.
With the cutoff for the South Jersey Group III sectional tournament closing in, the Mainland Regional boys tennis team was able to replace Ocean City atop the Power Points standings Tuesday, May 7, after evening the regular season series 1-1.
Ocean City had been higher on the ranking with a 10-1 record, achieved with 10 straight victories after a non-conference loss to start the season, but that changed when the Mustangs avenged their 4-1 loss to the Raiders from earlier this season.
That put Ocean City at 10-2 and the Mustangs at 10-3 and Mainland leading in the playoff hunt for seedings.
Since then the two teams each won two more matches and their records now stand at 12-2 and 12-3, respectively.
The Power Points reflected that change at the start of the week.
It was Ocean City back on top of Mainland, but with both teams sitting at 193.
Toms River East was seeded third with 177 points and Moorestown, the defending champion, at 163.
“Mainland-Ocean City in anything is always a battle,” Mustang head coach Chris Connolly said Thursday. “In tennis this year they have a great team with a lot of senior leadership. We were very fortunate to go to Ocean City and pull out the win. I’m happy for our boys and it was a great match.
“It controls things a little better to see where we go,” he added. “We have a shot to tie for the conference with Ocean City if we can win out.” Both teams have only a single loss in the conference so far.
“In Group III, we always have to worry about Moorestown and Ocean City,” Connolly said during his team’s match with Cedar Creek. “But with Ocean City and us split, it depends on where it’s going to go. We have a week of matches left before the cutoff for Power Points, so depending how it goes with rain and everything, we’ll see what’s going on, but I’m happy with how things are going.”
Between Ocean City and Mainland, he said, “we have battles in football, battles in basketball. It doesn’t really matter what you do in the regular season. If we’re fortunate enough to play Moorestown or Ocean City, it’s going to be a great fight and the winner will deserve whatever they get to do.”
The May 7 match finished 3-2 and featured hotly contested sets, including two that went into tie-breakers.
At first singles, Mustang Saketh Agava topped Raider Charles DiCicco 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8).
At second singles, it was Ocean City’s Tracey Steingard over Ben Rosenberg 6-1, 6-3. At third singles, Mainland’s Tristan Miller topped Jackson Barnes 7-5, 7-5.
At first doubles, Luigi Batioja and Kussh Patel lost their first set to Ocean City’s Colin Bowman and Chase Bowman, but rebounded to win, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8).
At second doubles, Raiders Luke Wagner and Joey Goodman topped Mainland’s Liam Angelo and Arya Patel 6-2, 6-0.
Last year, Ocean City and Mainland earned the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the sectional playoffs, but the Mustangs lost to finalist Shawnee and the Raiders fell to eventual champion Moorestown.
Power Point rankings close May 16 with the opening round of the sectional tournament starting by May 23 and finals by June 4.
After the loss to Mainland, Ocean City beat Millville 4-1, Middle Township 5-0 and Kingsway 5-0.
The Mustangs beat Middle Township 3-2 and Cedar Creek 5-0.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
