Friday,
September 25, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Sophomore Jacquelyn Fales scored a three-set victory in her first-ever varsity singles match to give Old Tappan a 3-2 victory over rival Demarest on Thursday. |
OLD TAPPAN – So, when did Northern Valley/Old Tappan sophomore Jacquelyn Fales get the word that she would be playing her first ever varsity singles match and would do so in an important league battle against rival Northern Valley/Demarest?
“She only found out that she was playing singles today for the first time in her varsity career only about two hours before the match started," said Old Tappan head coach Brook Zelcer. “She usually plays first doubles, but when I told her, she was excited about it.”
Ok...and when did Fales realize that, as she stood on the third singles court with all other matches already wrapped up, that the outcome of her third set would decide which team came away with a victory?
“That part I didn’t find out until it was over. They just told me and I couldn’t believe it,“ said Fales, who had just stepped out of the postmatch team huddle after Old Tappan’s 3-2 win over its sister school. “I lost the first set but I felt like I could play with her and get the ball back and once I got into the third set and it was tied 4-4, I was like, ‘Ok, I got this.”
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Demarest senior Sabrina Jacobs won in three sets at second singles. |
Fales broke in the ninth game of the third set and then served out the match to provide the winning point as Old Tappan eked out a win on a day where three of the five matches went the full three sets. Old Tappan improved to 4-3 on the season while Demarest fell to 5-2 as both teams head into this weekend’s Bergen County Tournament.
The two matches that did not go the distance were at first doubles where Old Tappan’s Kinnari Trivedi and Jane Song, the lone senior in the Golden Knights’ lineup, were the first off the court in a 6-4, 6-2 victory at first singles. In that top flight match Old Tappan freshman Melanie Sparhawk broke in the 11th game to take a 6-5, first set lead against Demarest’s Alina Chow. But rather than get rattled, Chow broke right back to forge a tiebreaker, which she won.
With her withering groundstrokes from the baseline, Chow wore down her younger opponent on the way to a 7-6, 6-1 victory.
Demarest swept the singles matches as senior Sabrina Jacobs kept her wits during a tough three-setter against Monica Kim. Jacobs cruised through the first set but then was broken twice in dropping the second. She rallied in the third to come away with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 victory that put Demarest up 2-1 with two matches still playing in the setting sun.
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Julia Lawrence helped Old Tappan get a three-set win at 2nd doubles. |
“Part of the problem in the second set is that maybe the rivalry kind of got to me. I have started since my freshman year, but this was my last time playing in this rivalry and I really wanted to win this one,” said Jacobs. “I was nervous from the beginning, but after I lost the second set I went to the fence and just thought that this is all just supposed to be fun. That is why we are playing out here, to have fun, I wasn’t the end of the world if I would have lost, but I wanted to help the team in my final year.”
Because Gabriella Bedrosian missed the match due to illness, the Old Tappan lineup was shuffled. That moved Fales into the third singles slot and junior Julia Lawrence in at second doubles where she teamed with Ema Bandazian to win a squeaker, a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win that squared the team score at 2 with the outcome resting squarely on Fales’ racket.
“After the first set I stopped coming to the net as much because she was a good lobber. I stayed back toward the baseline and played more consistently,” said Fales. “I was a little nervous at first, but then I settled down and just played. It was fun.”
Both teams will look to have more fun this weekend heading into the Bergen County Tournament, although there will be no rematches when they get there. Old Tappan will play in the rugged Groups 3-4 bracket while Demarest, with its lower enrollment, will play in the Groups 1-2 tournament for the first time.
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Alina Chow got Demarest its first point with a 7-6, 6-1 win at first singles. |
“I am hoping to see continued improvement no matter what the results are,” said Zelcer. “I want to finish the season on a high note, I want to compete with Tenafly for that league title and if we don’t stumble in the counties and we play as well as we can, then I will be happy.”
For players like Jacobs, the lone senior in Demarest’s starting lineup, this year’s county tournament is going to be a different experience. Where in years past, she knew exactly where she stood against the competition, this year she has no idea what she is getting into against small school competition.
“I’ve never played any of these girls that I am going to go up against. We played Dwight-[Englewood] once, but I did not play the second singles girl and I don’t even know who it is right now. It’s going to be a whole new experience for all of us,” said Jacobs. “In the big schools I know all of the girls. I am a senior now, I have played most of them either in or outside of high school. I am kind of going in blind. I know I am playing a girl from Leonia but that is it. I know I am seeded, but my coach won’t tell me where, so I am just going to go in there and play my best. In a perfect world, I’ll win.”
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