Thursday, October 21, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Amanda Muliawan cruised to a two-set win at first singles for Ramapo, which went on to fall, 3-2, to Millburn in the Group 3 state final.

WEST WINDSOR – Ramapo was hoping for what every great tennis team hopes for when a season starts…a storybook ending. The season played out like an enjoyable read with the team establishing itself as one of the best in the state and one of the closest both on and off the court. However, waiting at the last chapter of the book in the Group 3 state final was story’s boogie man, Millburn.

In the past two years, Millburn ended Ramapo’s season by the slimmest of margins. This year was almost different, but unfortunately for the Green Raiders, the ending played out like previous versions.

Sitting just three points from victory, Millburn third singles player Tatiana Cherne finished off a 3-hour, 41-minute marathon match by winning the final three games of the third set to send Millburn back to the Tournament of Champions and hand Ramapo its first loss of the season by beating the Green Raiders for the third consecutive time, 3-2, on Wednesday’s Group 3 state final at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

“It’s always so tough when we play Ramapo and I knew it might come down to my match,” said Cherne. “It was back and forth the last two sets and I just tried my best to stay in it mentally.”

Ramapo's Katie Nerlino fought right down to the final point at third singles.

Ramapo got its customary first point from first-singles standout Amanda Muliawan. The junior showed she is fully recovered from a wrist injury that limited her earlier in the season. She hit punishing groundstrokes throughout the match and took the final nine games against a solid player, Millburn’s Alex Stone, for a 6-2, 6-0 win.

Millburn has two of the best doubles teams in the state and they rose to the occasion. First-doubles tandem Patricia Chau and Emily Bary and the second doubles duo of Jenna Berkenkamp and Lauren Cohen each dropped just five games in straight-set victories to take a 2-1 lead and move one match from victory.

The Green Raiders were up against a challenge at second and third singles. Both second-singles player Lisa Jouravleva and third-singles player Katie Nerlino breezed through the first set before dropping the second to force a third and deciding sets.

Jouravleva, a freshman, was in a tailspin after dropping the second set and falling behind in the third against another highly-touted freshman, Millburn’s Maddie Stearns. But the diminutive Jouravleva came up with one big shot after another down the stretch to pull out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory and even the team score at 2.

The outcome came down to Nerlino and Cherne in a slugfest at third singles. Cherne had the momentum after breaking in the 11th game and holding to take the second set, 7-5.

Nerlino was not deterred and grabbed a 5-4 lead to move one game away from victory. But Cherne held serve then broke Nerlino in the 11th game again to take a 6-5 lead. Nerlino showed her resiliency by saving four match points before Cherne used her big forehand to finally close out the match and give Millburn a 3-2 win over Ramapo (16-1) for the third consecutive season.

While the season was another highly successful one, there is only the thought of what might have been and what Ramapo has to do to finally get past Millburn.

“It’s frustrating because we gave it everything we had and still came up just a little short,” said Ramapo head coach Kim Marchese. “We are experienced and Millburn is young, so this was a real opportunity for us. It’s been a great family atmosphere on this team and we were very fortunate to get past a very tough Moorestown team this morning. We just couldn’t get two in a row and we just can’t get seem to get past Millburn when we run into them.”

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