Vikes not too shabby at GMCT

By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
   All things considered, it hasn’t been a bad Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament for the South Brunswick High tennis team.
   The Vikings advanced first singles Ali Noll and both doubles teams to last Thursday’s semifinal rounds. Although all three lost, they will play in today’s (Thursday’s) third-place consolation matches, which were pushed back due to Saturday’s rains.
   "Actually, I was surprised, because the only experienced doubles player I had was Karen Sendner," said coach Nancy McDonald of her first doubles player who teams with Leah Suttner. "Karen played last year at second doubles and the other three doubles players were brand new to the tournament and that type of play.
   "My two seniors at second doubles (Christine Wotton and Heather Hui), it was their first time playing together and they got to the semifinals. I was quite pleased with that. I thought they played very well."
   McDonald was also happy with the first doubles team’s effort in their first two matches, even in their three-set defeat to East Brunswick’s Margo Testa-Marina Tsay..
   "They lost in three sets to a very good team," McDonald said. "It was 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, so they were that close to beating them."
   Noll also had a strong effort, winning a touch 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 match in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, played in a cold, cloudy, overcast day against Piscataway’s Celine Sunga. She then ran into a complete buzzsaw in Stefania Balasa on Thursday.
   "Ali played Stef in a dual match last week and went three sets," McDonald said. "She played her on a different day at a different time and Stef blew her away.
   "There was nothing Ali could do. It was just a really good day for a very strong player who was seeded in the states last year. She just didn’t miss. Ali didn’t play badly, she didn’t make many errors. The girl just hit like 30 winners. You would hope she’d break down at some point, but she didn’t. She was a machine."
   In the other early matches, second singles Haley Berk lost in the first round, while third singles Erin Kurkela won a three-set match before losing a three-setter to JFK’s Sayali Mahashabde 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. "Erin played well, and it was close," McDonald said, indicating the scores were indicative of how evenly matched the game was played.
   Heading into today’s consolation and finals, the Vikes have eight team points and are in fourth place behind EB, J.P. Stevens and Piscataway.