Bulldogs eye first MCT title

Hopewell Valley boys tennis

By: John E. Powers
   The Hopewell Valley Central High School boys tennis team surprised its coach Tuesday. The Bulldogs finished the first day of the Mercer County Tournament at Mercer County Park in second place with 16 points, four behind defending champion West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
   "Incredible," Quinlan said. "We’re very happy to have three courts alive in the semifinals. We’re the only team that won every first-round match. I’m very, very happy with our play today."
   The Bulldogs, who’ve never won a team county title or individual title, still are alive to win their first one thanks to an outstanding overall team effort. Aubrey Holmes (second singles), Peter Murr and Alex Sheidler (first doubles) and Dan McGruther and Jeff Drake (second doubles) will return at 11:30 a.m. today (Thursday) for the final day of competition.
   McGruther and Drake were the last to complete their matches. They needed six sets and three tiebreaks to get through the first round and the quarterfinals. They upset second-seeded Derek Cao and Mike Cohen of Lawrence 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-2. Cao and Cohen had beaten McGruther and Drake last Wednesday 6-2, 6-4 in a match won by Hopewell Valley 4-1. McGruther and Drake will play Chris Nesi and Yoshihiro Tachibana of Princeton in the semifinals.
   Holmes, who beat West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s John Cheng in the first round and Pennington’s Jon DeHeus in the first two rounds, will play West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Leland Richardson in the semifinals. Murr and Sheidler, who advanced by ousting Nottingham’s Riccardo Marcelin and Jafar Chaudary and Hightstown’s Spencer Zlatin and Ian Humphrey, will take on West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Billy Huang and Patrick Shock in the semifinals.
   First singles player Matt McGranaghan, who knocked off Hamilton’s Matt Pellegrino 6-0, 6-0 in the first round, was beaten in the quarterfinals by Steinert’s Jon Yu 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. McGranaghan beat Yu in the regular season.
   "Yu’s really played well," Quinlan said.
   Steve Deitchman beat Trenton’s Danny DeLeon 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.
   He then was eliminated by Princeton Day’s Seth Stein 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
   "It was a good match," Quinlan said.
   Hopewell had a regular-season match called off Monday against Ewing and was scheduled to play at Hightstown this past Wednesday.
   "Hightstown is a big match for us, and I think it’ll be a very good gauge for us," Quinlan said.
   "They only lost to Princeton 3-2, and Princeton is good, so it’ll definitely be good for the kids to see where we are."
   The Bulldogs entered the game with a 7-2 record.
   McGranaghan, Holmes, Deitchman and the first doubles team of Murr and Sheidler won in straight sets in the 4-1 win over Lawrence last week.