Bulldogs’ state run comes to an end against Summit

By paul salus
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI Rumson-Fair Haven’s Pete Van Deventer was the only Bulldog to get a win during the team’s Group II semifinal loss to Summit on Tuesday at Mercer County Park.

The Rumson Fair Haven tennis team suffered a tough blow to what has been a nearly perfect season on Tuesday, falling to Summit in the Group II finals at Mercer County Park.

The Rumson boys rolled through the sectional tournament, beating Montgomery in the final, 3-2, after knocking off Voorhees and Raritan in the first two rounds. It was RFH’s first CJ Group II title.

The Bulldogs then topped Kittatinny in the Group II semifinals, before bowing out to Summit on Tuesday, 4-1. In that match, junior Pete Van Deventer had the Bulldogs’ only victory, defeating Don Richards 6-4, 6-4 at second singles.

Rumson’s doubles teams of Andrew Miller and Chris Rodilosso, and Brendan Smith and Corey Cummins also played well, with Miller and Rodilosso dropping their contest 7-5, 6-4, while Smith and Cummins fell 6-4, 6-4.

"It was close, but not close enough," head coach Don Russell said. "We were pretty close in the doubles, but we just couldn’t pull it out. We’ve been playing well all season, and it doesn’t take much to throw your game off when you play a team as good as them.

"We really had a great season, and I’m proud of the kids’ efforts. Up until today, we only had one loss (to top-ranked Marlboro)."

Despite the loss, RFH has still managed a stellar 19-2 record this spring, with three conference games still remaining.

"I don’t want to jinx myself, but we should finish our season with a few more wins than we have right now," Russell said.

Rumson will be losing its third singles player, John Kelly, and Miller to graduation, but Russell has every reason to remain confident that his team will be equally dangerous next season.

"I’m looking forward to next season, but it’s too early to tell who of the younger kids is going to step it up," he said. "When we got into May, I was only using a seven-man rotation, so there weren’t a wide variety of kids getting quality time."

But before he worries too much about next year, Russell still has a few contests left this year to manage, including a match with Manasquan which will decide the Class A Central division title.

Manasquan is also boasting a 19-2 record, with one of its losses coming to Rumson earlier in the season. Coach Russell feels this win may have been the jump-start that got his team off to such a great year.

"Early on in the year, we were ranked eighth in the conference, and they were ranked third," he said. "We stepped it up, and our third singles player really stepped up, and was the pivot point for that match and for our successful season."

Tuesday’s loss to Summit notwithstanding, the Bulldogs exceeded expectations this year, which is an accomplishment for a program as storied as RFH’s. Next year expect more of the same, regardless of the preseason predictions.

Notes... The only local teams still alive in the state tournament are top-ranked Marlboro, the CJ Group I champs, and Point Beach, who emerged from the CJ Group I bracket.

Point Beach topped Middlesex to win the Group I title on Tuesday, 4-1, and was slated to face the Group III champ Millburn on Wednesday in the first round of the Tournament of Champions.

Marlboro topped Westfield to win the Group IV title, 3-2, despite the loss of their top player, John Boym, who has left the team to travel to Europe to play for the Junior Davis Cup team for the next week. Without Boym, Marlboro will have a tough time making their No. 1 ranking stand up.

The Mustangs played Summit on Wednesday in their first-round TOC match.

For the rest of the state’s top players, it’s on to the state individual tournament, which is scheduled to get under way on Saturday.

Ocean’s Gal Horovits is the top seed in the singles tournament, though he can expect a challenge from East Brunswick’s Vivek Subramanian, the No. 2 seed, and Shawnee’s Nick Savage. Horovits recently dropped a tough match to Boym (who would have been the fourth seed had he not withdrawn), who then went on to lose to Subramanian in the CJ Group IV final, won by Marlboro.

In the doubles portion, a number of local duos should do well, including RFH’s Miller and Chris Rodilosso, who suffered their first loss of the year to Summit on Tuesday. The Rumson tandem has seen some of the top doubles players in the state already, having faced both Holmdel and Marlboro, and enter the tournament battle-tested.

Among the other local players who will participate in the state individual tournament are Ocean’s Doug Friedman (seeded 20th), Rumson’s Greg Rodilosso, Holmdel’s Lawrence Zakrevsky (seeded 32) and Marlboro’s Andrew Sharnov in the singles pool, and Ocean’s Friedman and Josh Grossman, Marlboro’s Landon Goodman and Jason Schwartz, and Holmdel’s Mike Craparo and Steve Chu in the doubles portion.