An early morning start the day after Memorial Day presented a challenge for some players, who appeared less sharp on the courts.
But in the end, East Brunswick fought through adversity to earn a tough playoff win in a battle of ranked teams.
Fueled by perseverance at doubles and stellar performances from two of its three singles, fourth-seeded East Brunswick, No. 13 in the NJ.com Top 20, defeated fifth-seeded and No. 10 Montgomery, 4-1, in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 state tournament on Tuesday in East Brunswick.
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5/27 - 10:00 AM Boys Tennis Final Montgomery 1 East Brunswick 4
With the win, the 10-5 Bears will face the winner of top-seeded and No. 19 Marlboro or eighth-seeded Monroe in Thursday’s sectional semifinals.
“It was a great overall team performance,” East Brunswick coach Cory Widmaier said. “I felt like they came together both on and off the court. They lifted each other up in big moments. It got close on four of the courts even though the scores don’t seem that way.”
Montgomery (9-6), which was without starting second singles Daksh Bahl due to an illness, got the first point of the match from Ethan Qian. Qian moved up from his normal third singles spot to the second position and downed Saksham Bhardwaj, 6-1, 6-2.
East Brunswick’s Andrew Cui later tied it up at 1-1 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Juan Miguel Pereyra.
Cui, a senior, overpowered the talented freshman Pereyra, who is seeded 9-16 in the upcoming state singles tournament, with his strong serve and forehand.
“Those are my bread and butter,” he said.
Pereyra entered the match undefeated on the season.
“He was really good for a freshman,” Cui said. “I see really good things for him the next three years.”
Before April was over, Cui was just 5-4 at first singles in dual matches. But since then he’s turned around his campaign by making the final round at the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament at first singles. He’s also defeated a couple of strong players he had lost to earlier in the spring in that span such as Monroe’s Nathan Vudin and South Brunswick’s Manav Kumar to go along with Pereyra.
When the team needs him most in the playoffs, Cui is finding his stride. Even in two losses to Westfield‘s Chris Winters (tiebreaker) and Newark Academy’s Andrew Zielinski (6-4, 6-4), Cui has shown marked improvement compared to his early-season form.
“We talked about the match beforehand. This is some of the best tennis I’ve seen Andrew playing in a while,” Widmaier said. “He’s really coming into form at this point of the season. He struggled in the first half, but since then he’s beaten almost everybody he’s lost to in the second time around. He’s made some adjustments and he’s finding his form at the perfect time of the year.”
East Brunswick’s Ashwin Deodhar also beat Montgomery’s Wilson Dee at third singles, 6-3, 6-2 to give the Bears a 2-1 lead before doubles closed out the win.
At first doubles, Jayden He and Romit Shah combined to top Arvin Pingili and Srikar Bavigadda, 6-4, 7-5, while second doubles Ajay Geria and Timur Savin edged Advaith Molakaseema and Ethan Silverberg, 5-7, 6-1, (10-6).
He and Shah led 4-1 in the first set before He displayed quick hands at the net to win the set. Montgomery turned the tides and was up 4-1 in the second set before He and Shah rallied.
Savin and Geria also faced a tough challenge, but they were able to complete the comeback.
“Some of the guys didn’t have their best tennis today but they dug deep and grinded out some good wins,” Widmaier said.
Ashwin Deodhar of East Brunswick.Scott Faytok | NJ Advance Media
Deodhar‘s racquet’s strings broke at 4-2 in the second set, and he had to retrieve a new one from bag. His second racquet played differently than his first.
“It was completely different than the one I was using,” Deodhar said. “It was heavier and the face was wider. I played better in the first set even though I lost more games. I’m glad I found a way to win still.
“Especially for serving I had to swing much faster. For the baseline shots I had to swing faster harder and heavier. But the balls also went deeper in the court so I had to still control it with my spin.”
Dee played just his second match of the season for the Cougars as they shifted around their lineup, but his performance belied his inexperience. Dee was a tenacious player who got almost every ball back. Deodhar had to work for the win.
“He was very good,” Deodhar said. “He didn’t make many unforced errors. I can see that he was a strong player.”
Should Marlboro advance past Monroe in the other quarterfinal in the top half of the bracket, it would be the fifth meeting between the Mustangs and Bears in the postseason since 2017. Marlboro won last year in the sectional final, 3-2, a month after East Brunswick defeated the Mustangs by the same score in a regular season dual.
The Bears also won in 2022 and 2021, 3-2 apiece, in the playoffs.
East Brunswick also has history with Monroe should it pull the upset given the Falcons are in the same division in the GMC.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Widmaier said of potentially going to Marlboro for the semis. “We have some history with them the past few years playing them in this tournament. We’re excited to play them once again especially on their turf this time. Usually they have come to us, so it’ll be a nice change of scenery. It should be interesting especially indoors.”
Contact Chris Nalwasky at cnalwasky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @ChrisNalwasky.
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