Metuchen tennis looking to advance in state tourney

BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer

After a tough 4-1 loss to Blue Division standings leader South River, the Metuchen High School boys tennis team bounced back with an impressive though injury-depleted team to beat Middlesex 3-2. TheBulldogs are currently 6-5 on the season and looking to advance into the second round of the state tournament after opening tournament play against No. 3 Florence.

In its firstmatch against SouthRiver, the Bulldogs ended up just short with a 3-2 loss. This time around, freshman Dan Sczwarc was the team’s lone winner at No. 1 singles. Sczwarc won his match 6-0, 6-1.

“The maturity and growth Dan has shown is remarkable,”Metuchen head coach Rob Strauss said. “I’ve never been blessed with a freshman at No. 1. It should be very exciting to see him develop these next couple of years.”

With Sczwarc out of the lineup in the Middlesex match later in the week and joined by No. 3 singles player Alex Adamowsky on the sideline, the team’s 3-2 win was especially impressive.

“Having two of your singles players out is quite a handicap,” Strauss said. “The rest of the team responded well and got the job done.”

Jeff Victor, the team’s No. 2 singles player,moved up to playNo. 1with Sczwarc out and responded accordingly. In just his first match at the top spot this season, Victor defeated Middlesex’s Andrew Marshie 6-2, 6-2.

“We needed Jeff towin and he did a great job,” Strauss said. “I thought he played great tennis.”

Unfortunately, the brief stint for doubles players Alex Storts and Brian Frowenfeld was not as kind. Storts lost at No. 2 singles to Chris Ghanem6-0, 6-3, while Frowenfeld fell to GregMacher 6-2, 6-2.

“Alex and Brian are veteran doubles players and it was a good experience for them to get some action on the singles court,” Strauss said. “It’s a completely different game. They fought hard but just came up short.”

The No. 1 doubles team of Nick Sereda and Neal Shelley picked up a 6-1, 6-4 win, while the No. 2 doubles team of Andrew Barth and Nick Roberts defeated Chris North and Kem Pinedo by identical scores.

“This win showed some of our depth,” Strauss said. “Hopefully this bodes well for the future of the program. It’s good to know we have some younger guys that can fill in and help the team win when needed.”

After the state match-up against Florence, the Bulldogswill finish theweekwith a home match May 15 against visiting Dunellen before hitting the road to take on Edison May 16. Metuchen lost a tough 3-2 match to Dunellen early in the season.