Falcons bus(ted) in road matches

By: Sean Richards
   You can be sure the Monroe Township High School girls tennis team will not want to listen to Willie Nelson’s rendition of On the Road Again when it gets on a bus today.
   It would only bring back bad memories because the road has been nothing but potholes and roadblocks so far for the Falcons.
   It all started last Friday when the team opened its season at Colonia. Before it could get there, however, the bus made a couple of wrong turns, took the wrong exit on the New Jersey Turnpike and arrived late for the match.
   "We had the wrong directions and got lost twice going there," said coach Trudy Marmorek. "It was a long day."
   It didn’t get any shorter when Monroe Township lost by the score of 4-1.
   Monday wasn’t any better as the Falcons again boarded a bus, this time to travel to South Plainfield. The Falcons didn’t lose this match, but they didn’t even get to play after the bus was involved in a traffic accident.
   "It was nothing serious; just a fender bender," said Marmorek. "But the police came and by the time all of the paper work got done, it was like, ‘why bother?’ "
   The South Plainfield match will be rescheduled, but in the meantime it was nothing but practice, practice as the team prepared for today’s (Friday’s) match at Mother Seton.
   In that opener at Colonia, the lone winner was No. 1 singles player Marisa Jendras. Expected to have a banner year after a 9-4 record last year, Jendras rolled by the scores of 6-0 and 6-3 over Christine Longenhagen.
   The rest of the match did not go nearly as well, although Jackie Niu played a strong second set in a loss to Colonia’s No. 2 singles player.
   "Jackie Niu played much better as the match went along," said Marmorek. "The girl Jackie played looked stronger than they’re No. 1 player. They’re No. 2 is a very powerful girl.
   "I also thought Marisa played great. With a lot of the other girls there were some nerves. But that’s to be expected early in the year."
   Especially in the doubles competition, where MTHS is basically a team of newcomers. On the plus side, the second doubles team of Jackie Jesus and Eleonara Mallani came close, dropping a 7-5, 7-5 decision in a match that would have had the fans roaring at the U.S. Open in New York.
   "It’s been a slow start, but the girls have been practicing hard," said Marmorek. "It’s a hard-working group."
   In addition to today’s match at Mother Seton, Monroe has a match at JFK on Tuesday. On Wednesday against New Brunswick it will finally be at home, which will come as a welcome after the way the first two road trips transpired.