Friday, October 12, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

After splitting her first two matches at third singles against IHA in the regular season, Christen Duff won the rubber match and gave her team a 3-2 win over IHA in the Non-Public North A state sectional semifinals.

DEMAREST – Even on the tennis court, the rivalry between Immaculate Heart Academy and Holy Angels runs deep. In their two regular-season meetings this year the teams split with each team taking third singles to pull out a 3-2 win. IHA won the latest round last Friday with Holy Angels’ Christen Duff dropping the pivotal match. Luckily for Duff, she did not have to wait long for a shot at redemption.

Duff took full advantage of a second chance and pulled away early to earn a straight-set victory over IHA’s Alexis Morin that advanced second-seeded Holy Angels back into the Non-Public North A section final for the second consecutive year with, what else, a 3-2 victory in the section semifinals on Thursday on the campus of Holy Angels Academy in Demarest.

“There was a little more pressure on me today, but I made sure I stayed confident throughout the entire match,” said Duff. “After losing my match and it being the difference when we played them last week, I was excited to get another chance. We wanted to go back to the section final. I knew I had to step up for us to get there.”

As she did in her first two matches against IHA, sophomore first-singles player Adrienne Alfonso took care of business with a methodical 6-3, 6-0 victory over Christina Sollitto.

Gabby Cuna was half of IHA's victorious first doubles team.

The point at second singles came as more of a surprise; not so much with the result, but the decisiveness of that result. Holy Angels’ freshman Jackie DeRocher dropped the first set in both matches against IHA sophomore Hailey Bossolina before rallying to win 6-3 in the third set in each of them. There was no slow start this time around as DeRocher was the aggressor right from the first point and surprisingly cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win.

With IHA winning both doubles flights in straight sets, the winning point came down once again to third singles. Duff consistently kept the ball deep the entire match. That allowed her to string points together and go on a big run that essentially put away the match. She reeled off the final four games of the first set and the first four games of the second en route to a 6-2, 6-2 victory that sent the Angels back to the Non-Public North A section final.

“I had to focus on every point and stay with playing my game,” added Duff. “I thought when I played (Morin) last week, my play was up-and-down. Today it was real important for me to play a consistent match and get an early lead. A lot of us were here before last year so we knew what it took to get to the final.”

Holy Angels' Adrienne Alfonso was impressive in a 6-3, 6-0 win at first singles.

IHA (10-3) received straight-set wins from Gabby Cuna and Erika Paulius at first doubles and the tandem of Kushal Dave and Caroline Sollitto at second doubles.

Holy Angels (9-2) will play in the Non-Public North A section final for the second consecutive year (they lost last year to Pingry). Only this time the Angels will be at home when they take on fourth-seeded Kent Place, who scored a 5-0 win over top seed Pope John yesterday. While a win over Kent Place will be a tall task, Holy Angels head coach Jessica Leto knows her team has already accomplished a great feat and winning a section title would merely be the cherry on top.

“I sent out an email to the team about an inspirational speech from (New York Giants head coach) Tom Coughlin about finishing a game, and they took it to heart,” said Leto. “Everyone responded to it and we applied that today in terms of finishing our matches. Our confidence was the key to our success. When you have talent and you play with confidence, anything can happen. We have really come along as a team and we’re peaking at the perfect time. Hopefully that carries over into next week and we can bring home a title.”

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