Monroe’s win streak ends heroically

By: Sean Richards
   The Monroe Township High School girls tennis team’s impressive eight-match winning streak is over, but even in defeat the Falcons were heroic.
   Facing division-leading J.K. Kennedy of Iselin in a key Greater Middlesex Conference collision Monday, the Falcons took to the courts with heavy hearts.
   The reason was the team no longer had the services of Eleonara Malliani, the popular foreign exchange student from Italy who had done a very nice job for Monroe this year at second doubles.
   Malliani left the team after she had to earlier abruptly fly home because of the recent death of her father.
   "It’s a shame," said Monroe coach Trudy Marmorek. "The team didn’t get to say good-bye to her or anything. She was supposed to go home in early November anyway, so that means we’ll probably never get to see her again.
   "We’ll make a scrapbook for her or something, but everyone feels bad about that."
   Malliani’s departure couldn’t have come at a more unfortunate time because the JFK match was arguably the biggest one of the entire season. And as luck would have it, the teams battled right down to the end with the scored tied at 2-all and second doubles being the all-determining factor.
   Naturally, this match also couldn’t have been any closer as Monroe dropped the first set, won the second and then fell behind 5-2 in the third with freshman Alyssa Cosentino filling in for Malliani and teaming with Jackie Jesus.
   Showing the kind of fighting spirit that has allowed Monroe to bounce back from a rough start and post an 8-3 record to date, Cosentino and Jesus stormed back to tie the third set 5-5. Everything hinged on every shot from there before Cosentino and Jesus eventually dropped a 7-5 decision in which the last game at one point was 40-all.
   "It was very exciting right down to the bitter end," said Marmorek. "With Eleonara there we might have won, but Alyssa Cosentino played a great match. I’m really proud of her. "We really wanted this match to show JFK how much we’ve improved since we faced them earlier in the season."
   Indeed the Falcons have because in the first match JFK trounced Monroe, 4-1. But that was then and right now the Falcons can play with anybody in the division. What’s more, with six matches left, this thing is far from decided.
   Posting wins against JFK were first singles player Marisa Jendras and the first doubles team of Ashley Palach and Nicolette Waksmundski.
   Prior to the JFK match, Monroe defeated South Plainfield, 4-1 and Mother Seton.
   The Mother Seton match actually hasn’t been completed yet because the first singles match involving Jendras was stopped by darkness with the score tied in the third set.
   Monroe already has the Mother Seton match clinched with three victories in its win column, but the Jendras match will have to be completed because of its importance in establishing the top player in the division.
   Jendras is currently 10-0 in regular season matches and the Mother Seton first singles player is considered to be her top competition in the division.
   Monroe was to have played Perth Amboy Wednesday and travel to Bishop Ahr today. It has a busy week coming up with matches Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
   "It’s not over yet," said Marmorek. "We’re still right in the division hunt and the top teams are very even."