BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
Colin Przybylowski, believed to be the first qualifier in the NJSIAA singles tennis tournament from Brick Memorial, and Kobe Attias of Brick Township were eliminated in the second round at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.
Columbia’s Peter Barrowclough efficiently piled up his points in pulling out a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Przybylowski. Barrowclough had advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Woodbury’s Bryan Duffeld while Przybylowski won by default over Bridgewater’s Chris Wu.
Attias, meanwhile, retired in the second set in the stifling heat after dropping a 6-2 first set to Steinert’s Jon Yu. Yu won in the first round over Woodstown’s Ross Cundey, 6-2, 6-0, while Attias had beaten Hasbrouck Heights’ Prsanna Fernando, 6-1, 6-2.
“Colin’s opponent [in the second round] was a little stronger and was a senior who was experienced with this level of competition,” said Brick Memorial coach Ron Gerlufsen of his sophomore first singles star. “We waited three hours for him to play, because Colin’s first-round opponent did not come and the guy he played in the second round breezed through his first match and wasn’t too tired.
“He didn’t really get into the flow of the match, maybe because he was sitting around waiting to play or that he did not have a competitive match in two weeks,” said the coach.
Przybylowski can look back with pride on the team’s best season in memory at 15-7, including an impressive 8-4 match in the grueling Shore Conference A South.
“Next year, he’ll have an opportunity to exceed what he’s done,” said Gerlufsen.
And he’ll be busy in the weeks ahead. Przybylowski, who also saw a lot of action on the basketball team that finished a school-best 18-8 and made the Shore Conference and NJSIAA tournaments as a backup point guard, is joining his basketball teammates at The Richard Stockton College camp in Pomona next week. He also is working at a tennis camp, and he’ll be playing with his basketball teammates in the Rebounds summer league in Neptune and at the St. Joseph’s University Camp in Philadelphia in August.