Falcons win six straight to close season

By: Sean Richards
   The Monroe Township High School tennis team didn’t just finish its season on a positive and winning note. It did it in resounding style.
   The impressive Falcons won four more matches over the last week, starting with a 3-2 victory over Sayreville. This was followed by a 5-0 thumping of Spotswood, a 3-2 thriller over Mother Seton and a 5-0 victory over Bishop Ahr in the final action of the season.
   The win over Mother Seton was definitely the big one as it allowed Monroe to conclude the season with an outstanding record of 14-3 and run the table in its last six matches.
   It was a dramatic and memorable day against Mother Seton. It began with Monroe’s No. 1 singles player Marisa Jendras beating Mother Seton’s Jennifer Jenda in the conclusion of a match from earlier this year that was stopped by darkness.
   Jenda, however, then turned the tables on Jendras in their rematch to hand the outstanding Monroe junior her only loss during the regular season. Jendras went onto to finish with a record of 16-1 after a win against Bishop Ahr.
   Monroe appeared like it might be in trouble at this point, but Jackie Niu came through at second singles against Mother Seton. Also delivering in the clutch was the first doubles team of Nicolette Waksmundski and Ashley Palach.
   The Mother Seton match then came down to the second doubles match, which concluded when everyone else was finished. This went back and forth, but Monroe’s Alyssa Cosentino and Jackie Jesus came up huge by winning the first and third sets.
   "It was a great match," said Monroe coach Trudy Marmorek. "Jendras did a tremendous job for us this year and the girls weren’t used to her losing. They really picked it up to pull it out."
   With the Mother Seton match out of the way, Monroe got to enjoy itself even more the next day in the season finale against Bishop Ahr. Not only did it sweep all five matches, but third singles player Leyna O’Neill had a thrilling three-set victory in which she won twice on tiebreakers.
   It was a special moment for O’Neill, who is just one of two seniors on the team and didn’t enjoy the best of seasons.
   "Everyone was happy for Leyna," said Marmorek. "She had a tough year, so it was great to see her go out with a win in her last high school match. When it was over the team dumped water on her. The whole team was very excited."
   Good news also recently came on another front as both Jendras and Niu were both named to Greater Middlesex Conference’s White Division All-Star team. Niu compiled a tremendous regular-season record of 14-3 to give Monroe one of the top one-two punches in the entire county.
   "We got off to the slow start with losses in our first two matches, but the team really came around from there," said Marmorek. "It was a great year and the most wins we’ve had since I’ve been here (early 1990s). We didn’t win the division, but we came about as close as you can."
   With so many key players returning, it would come as no surprise if the Falcons aren’t forced to settle for a near miss next fall.