Thursday, October 9, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Molly Farber was half of the first doubles team that came back from a 3-0 deficit in the third set to pull off a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory that provided the winning point in N/V Demarest's 4-1 win over rival Old Tappan in the sectional quarterfinals. |
DEMAREST – The first two times that Northern Valley/Demarest played its rival Northern Valley/Old Tappan this season, both matches ended in identical 4-1 scores in favor of the Norsewomen. Those regular season results went a long way toward determining the two teams' state tournament fortunes as Demarest was undefeated at the cutoff and earned the No. 2 seed. Old Tappan, on the other hand, was put in the No. 7 hole and was the road team in Wednesday's North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinal round.
This was Round 3 on the season and the scenario was quite different this time around. Demarest took the points at first and second singles, while Old Tappan got on the board at third singles and the two matches still playing were toss-ups as each headed into a third and decisive set.
“When you play any team three times, and especially a good team like Old Tappan, three times in a season it is very hard to beat them all three times. They know our strengths and weaknesses and our strategies,” said Demarest head coach Dave Johnson. “When I saw Old Tappan in our draw I knew that it was going to be a difficult task at hand. Having played them I knew that they were much better than a No. 7 seed. They had tough matches early in the year with affected their record, but they have grown and I knew this was not going to be easy.”
It wasn't, but the end result was the same as Demarest (11-1) came back from an 0-3 hole in the third set at first doubles and won in a third-set tiebreaker at second doubles, sweating out a 4-1 victory that moves it into Friday's state sectional semifinal at home against No. 3 Northern Highlands, the only team to beat the Norsewomen this season.
The point that finally pushed Demarest past the tipping point came from Sabrina Jacobs and Molly Farber, the first doubles team who looked dominant in the first set before dropping the second and falling behind 0-3 in the third. They rallied for a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory that gave the Norsewomen their decisive third team point.
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Senior Ana Bandazian won 6-4, 6-4 at third singles to give Old Tappan its point. |
“I the first set we were more consistent and aggressive. We were hitting the ball deeper and we had a good game plan,” said Jacobs. “But in the second set they changed their game plan a little bit. That kind of caught us off guard and it took us a while to adapt.”
Time was running short before Jacobs and Farber regrouped in time to win six of the final seven games against the Old Tappan duo of Monica Kim and Kinnari Trivodi.
“I knew the [team score] was 2-1 and we needed to get that third point, but we couldn't worry about that when we were down 3-love in the third set,” said Farber. “Our coach came and talked to us and after that we did feel like there was that much pressure. We just had to go back to playing our game and that is when things started to work in our favor.”
As it turned out, Demarest had a point to spare as Michelle Luo and Jesse Geller came through at second singles with a 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (10-5) victory over Leah Kim and Je Hee Kim.
“We are an interesting combination of veterans and young players. Our older players have been steady and, just by looking at today's play, you can see how our younger players have improved. Look at the way first singles [Trivodi and Monica Kim] fought today even though they lost,” said Old Tappan head coach Brook Zelcer. “The score 4-1 is going to appear misleading. Ultimately the score is the score, but we were up in the second set 3-0 at second singles, we were up 3-0 in the deciding third set at first singles and those didn't go our way. Of course that could be because Demarest is a better team that knows how to fight back and take advantage of the breaks they get.”
Demarest scored the opening point at first singles where senior Grace Minassian, the second place finisher in the Bergen County Group 3-4 Tournament, beat Old Tappan freshman Gabriella Bedrosian, 6-1, 6-2. Although it was not reflected in the final score, Bedrosian had some chances and kept Minassian on her toes throughout the second set.
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Demarest's Grace Minassian scored the match's first point with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at first singles. |
“Usually I get tired in the second set but today I just had to keep pushing myself because she was stronger in the second set and I did not want to give away any games,” said Minassian. “I played my game. I hit my forehand well, I came to the net and I served pretty well. I wanted to be more offensive than defensive and I was able to do that.”
For Bedrosian, this whole season has been a learning process. She moved up to the first singles slot through injury and has held her own against the top players in Bergen County.
“The first time I played [Minassian] it was the first game I ever played in high school, it was the first one of the season. Today I feel like I played better with my footwork and my groundstrokes, I just did not serve that well. Too many double faults and that was not helpful,” said Bedrosian. “This year has been so much fun. Honestly, I am upset that I lost today because I had a couple of break points and chances to be in the match, but it is just fun to be able to test yourself against one of the best girls around.”
Bandazian, the senior lefty, got Old Tappan its point at third singles with identical 6-4, 6-4 scores over Lauren Kim. It was a good way to go out in her final state tournament match.
“This was the first time I have ever played [Lauren Kim] in a singles match. We played before in doubles and we lost, so this was a good win for me,” said Bandazian. “I just tried to go slow and steady and at other times trying to kill it. I wanted to keep her guessing point by point.”
Demarest also got a win at second singles where Alina Chow cruised through the first set, 6-0, before holding off a stiff challenge in the second to win it 6-4 over Old Tappan senior Jen Gambino.
So now it is on to the section semifinals and Northern Highlands in a match to be played on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Demarest.
“Northern Highlands is going to be tough, but not impossible. The seeding doesn't really mean anything anymore, you can throw it out the window. Even though we have a home court advantage it doesn't make much of a difference,” said Johnson. “Highlands is very strong in the doubles, so we are really going to have to step up in the doubles and hopefully our singles can really come through for us.”
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