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Sports

Chatham Boys' Tennis Defeats Millburn, Moves on to Tournament of Champions Final

Cougars will face Westfield, who they beat twice earlier this year.

WEST WINDSOR — The top-seeded Chatham boys' tennis team edged No. 4 seed Millburn 3-2 in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions Wednesday afternoon at Mercer County Park and earned the right to play for its first state championship.

"It feels pretty good," said Chatham head coach Bruce Humphreys. "If you looked at their reactions after they won that ... I like the attitudes, keeping it low key. They understand that tomorrow's another day and we've got to be ready to play. Hopefully the magic will happen."

Senior Patrick Monaghan routed Eric Cohen, 6-1, in the first set of first singles, but seemed to run into a bit of trouble in the second set. Monaghan took the first game before Cohen won the following two. After the next break, Monaghan was still trailing 3-2. However, he used a few nice serves and well-played volleys to jump ahead 4-3 and eventually take the set 6-3. His efforts netted the Cougars (30-1) their first point of the day.

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"I thought it was well played," said Monaghan. "It's what I planned to do. He was a big hitter and I just needed to stick in there. I know he doesn't have great endurance physically and mentally, so I just had to stick in there. I just couldn't get into a rhytym off his serve. I wasn't nervous at all. I just didn't give up."

Senior Matt Romei put Millburn (24-7) in a 2-0 hole with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Jared Wishnow. The outcome of this one was never in doubt, as Romei remained undefeated on the year. In doing so, he pushed the Millers to the brink of elimination.

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"It felt pretty good," said Romei. "I felt like I played well. He was hitting some nice shots early—I just adjusted my game plan and came out on top. We can compete with any team in the state, especially in these types of matches."

As good as the singles players were, the doubles teams were another story. Sophomore Chad Gildersleeve and junior Chris Harvey fell 6-3, 6-3 to Sebastian and Nicky Chen Schmidt in second doubles, as Chatham saw its lead drop to 2-1. Then, in first doubles, seniors Matt Evans and Andrew Coppola dropped the first set 6-3 in a back-and-forth affair. In the second set, Millburn went up 3-0 early before Coppola and Evans closed made it 4-1. However, the two eventually fell 6-2 as the Millers tied the match up 2-2.

With the Cougar's backs up against the wall, Patrick's sophomore brother Quentin stepped up and pushed Chatham into the finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Robert Xie.

"It's a pleasure to watch [the singles players] play," said Humphreys. "They're striking the ball clean and using the court well, so it's worked out well for us. They had to because Millburn pushed them to play well. It was either play well or die, and fortunately we played well."

The Cougars will face Westfield matchup at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday at Mercer County Park in the tournament finals.

"We've played Westfield twice," said Humphreys. "We won 3-2, but they were a close 3-2."

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