RAIDER ROUNDUP
By: Rudy Brandl
The Hillsborough High girls’ tennis team will be playing for big stakes just about every day this week, as long as the weather cooperates.
Sunday’s rain forced the postponement of the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the Somerset County Tournament. Those rounds were set to be played Wednesday, with the finals to be rescheduled depending on which schools have the most players involved.
Many teams, including the Raiders, will have state tournament conflicts Thursday, so it’s possible the county finals could be held Friday. HHS head coach Larry Johnson said the site could change from The Pingry School in Martinsville depending on the combination of singles and doubles players who advance to the championship round.
The Raiders are shooting for titles in the conference, plus the county and sectional tourneys. That means every match is significant for this team.
Senior first singles player Emily Mannix shut out her foes in Hillsborough’s 5-0 victories over Ridge and Immaculata last week. Singles teammates Paige Aiello and Reciel Arribe dropped only a few games in posting easy victories in both matches.
The doubles action was a bit more competitive. The closest match of the week came at first doubles, where Caitlin Katzelnick and Mae Ling Strang needed a tiebreak in the third set to defeat Ridge.
Hillsborough’s second doubles team of Alary Price and Justine Turnbull made a nice recovery in Saturday’s county tourney. The only HHS girls in action that day, Price and Turnbull were nervous at the start and dropped the first three games to Immaculata’s Kaitlin Powers and Caryssa Vitelli. The Raider duo stormed back to win the next 12 games to advance to the quarterfinals.
"Each week, I find out more about our team," Johnson said. "This week is on par with where we are on our ‘bell curve.’ Everyone is playing great tennis right now. Next week is really what we’re playing for a state title. I think our chances are pretty good against anyone we play."
Rath, Paterno fuel
cross country sweep
The Hillsborough High boys and girls swept Immaculata in last week’s cross country dual meet at Duke Island Park. The boys improved to 4-0 with a 26-30 victory, while the girls evened their record at 2-2 with a 24-37 triumph.
Michael Rath and Robyn Paterno led their respective teams with second place finishes. Rath hit the wire in 17:40, while Paterno crossed the finish line in 20:57.
All the remaining HHS runners finished in the top 10 in both races.
Joe Bernardo finished third in 17:46, while Ken Taylor (18:10), Karan Raje (18:26), Jason Walton (18:27), Justin Risso (18:28) and Jordan Magath (18:30) ran consecutively in positions 6-10.
The HHS girls had six straight finishers in a pack with less than a minute of separation. Meredith Mayes was fourth overall in 21:26, followed in succession by Rebecca Deteresa (22:01), Alison Buerkle (22:04), Nicole Rocha (22:12), Alyssa Ciccotelli (22:17) and Beth Davin (22:22).
Hillsborough’s teams were scheduled to run their final dual meet of the season at Franklin this Wednesday.
Rokoszak nets
winner for girls
Junior forward Dana Rokoszak scored with 14 minutes left in regulation Saturday to propel the HHS girls’ soccer team to a 2-1 victory over West Windsor Plainsboro South.
Mary Bednar, a senior forward who had tied the game on a penalty kick in the first half, provided the assist. Hillsborough goalkeeper Taryn O’Connor made seven saves and blanked the visitors after an early goal.
The Lady Raiders split their other two games on the road last week, shutting out Franklin by a 6-0 score after dropping a 2-0 decision at Hunterdon Central. Katie Marino led the charge at Franklin with two goals and one assist. Rokoszak, Bednar, Heather Mutz and Jenna Stickle also scored for the visitors, while O’Connor made six stops for the shutout.
Hillsborough (6-3) will need the momentum from Saturday’s victory to get through a very challenging week against two of the state’s finest teams. HHS was scheduled to host Montgomery Tuesday and play at Bridgewater-Raritan Thursday in a pair of huge Delaware East Division battles.
Rhoades, Lynch fuel
gymnasts to sweep
Christina Rhoades and Mary-Kate Lynch went 1-2 in the all-around to lead the HHS gymnastics team to a big sweep of Bridgewater-Raritan and Somerville last week in Hillsborough.
Rhoades won beam (9.4), took second on vault (9.45), third on bars (8.375) and second on floor (9.55) to win the all-around (36.775). Lynch won bars (8.8) and floor (9.6) and finished second on beam (9.275) and all-around (36.625).
HHS freshman Jessica Leinbach also contributed a nice routine on the balance beam (9.25).
The Raiders (6-0) were scheduled to compete at North Hunterdon with Seneca Wednesday in their final tune-up for Saturday’s first Somerset County Tournament.

