Mandalap fuels Pirates sweep of East Brunswick
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Ammu Mandalap got a big jolt of confidence heading into the girls state singles tennis tournament and a bigger dose of revenge.
The freshman defeated last year’s state runner-up, Stefania Balasa, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, to help West Windsor-Plainsboro South sweep East Brunswick in the Central Jersey Group IV quarterfinals Thursday. Mandalap lost to Balasa in their sectional final last year as the Pirates fell, 3-2, to East Brunswick. But it was a far different story Thursday.
Below Mandalap, the Pirates only lost nine total games against the Bears. June Lee was a 6-2, 6-1 winner at second singles, Lesley Norris captured a 6-2, 6-1 win at third singles, and the doubles teams of Sahana Jayaraman and Larissa Lee Lum and Amanda Stanton and Mallory Wang were 6-3, 6-0, and 6-0, 6-0 winners at first and second doubles respectively.
With the win, the second-seeded Pirates advance to host third-seeded Marlboro 3 p.m. today.
Also in CJ IV, top-seeded Montgomery was a convincing 4-1 winner over eight-seeded South Brunswick on Thursday. Rachel Pierson was a 6-0, 6-1 winner at second singles and Charlotte Sclapari was a 6-1, 6-1 victor at third singles. Rachel Casey and Julia Goldman won, 6-2, 6-0, at first doubles and Taylor D’Agostino and Julia Shen captured a 6-0, 6-3 match. Ayla Rasmussen lost at first singles to Alison Noll.
The Cougars advance to host fourth-seeded Sayreville, a 3-2 winner over Freehold Township, 3 p.m. today.
In CJ III action, top-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro North avenged last year’s sectionals loss to Ocean Township, 5-0, Thursday. They did so without losing a set. Danika Baskar was a 6-3, 6-0 winner at first singles, Melissa Traub won, 6-1, 6-1 at second singles and Harinee Suthakar earned a 6-3, 6-1 win. The first doubles team of Alex Dworsky and Avanti Dabholkar won, 6-1, 6-0, while the second doubles tandem of Aparna Shankar and Aneesha Raghunathan won, 6-2, 6-3.
The Knights host today’s 3 p.m. semifinals against fifth-seeded Wall, a 4-1 winner over Freehold Boro.
The finals for all sectionals must be completed by Thursday.