Friday, October 16, 2015

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Leonia won its first match in the Group 1 semifinals before falling to Shore Regional, 3-2, in the final. Northern Highlands, Ridgewood and Ramapo also showed well at Mercer County Park.

WEST WINDSOR – Of the five Bergen County teams that made it to the NJSIAA Group Championships on Thursday at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, only Holy Angels walked away with a state title. But the other four Bergen teams put up good fights with both Leonia and Ramapo winning their Group semifinal matches and advancing to a state final in Groups 1 and 2, respectively.

North 1, Group 3 champ Northern Highlands was up against what is considered to be New Jersey's strongest team in the past decade, defending Tournament of Champions titlist Millburn. The Highlanders fought hard but suffered a 5-0 defeat to the eventual Group 3 champ.

Ridgewood suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Ridge in the Group 4 semifinals. Julia Yoon and Alex Absey won in straight sets at first and third singles, but the Maroons suffered tough losses in third-set super tiebreakers (10-8 and 11-9) at second singles and second doubles that allowed Ridge to advance.

Leonia got dominating performances from Bianka Lieber at third singles and the tandem of Elise Kim and Jessica Reich at first doubles to grab a 2-0 lead over North 2, Group 1 champ Verona. Liya Davidov closed out the match at second singles. The left-handed Davidov hit consecutive winners in the second-set tiebreak to take control for a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win. Katarina Lieber also had a straight-set win as the Lions advanced to the Group 1 state final.

“The biggest thing for us was to treat the Verona match like it was any other match,” said Leonia's Elise Kim. “We're a really close team and we didn't want to be happy with just getting down here. I think the approach is different for every opponent you play. In our match (at first doubles), our goal was not to let the net player touch it and try to control as many points as we can.”

The Lions got two more straight-set wins at third singles and first doubles, but were unable to notch the third point for the win. Charlotte Roarty won the final three games in the third set at second singles for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to give Shore Regional the Group 1 state title.

At first singles, Ramapo standout Brianna Omar rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the first set to score a quality 7-5, 6-1 win over West Essex's Skylar Simson. Lauren Laino scored the clinching point at third singles to move the Green Raiders into the Group 2 final.

Against a very talented Holmdel team, Ramapo could only muster a point at first singles with Omar winning 6-1, 6-3. While there is disappointment whenever losing in a state final, the journey of getting down here is worth all the hard work.

“We've had a great season and we gave it all we had,” said Ramapo head coach Kim Marchese. “When you get down here to Mercer where the best teams are all facing one another, sometimes you're just going to run into a better team and today Holmdel was the better team.”

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