Hunterdon County Season in Review, 2024
Hunterdon Central
The Red Devils from Hunterdon Central went through a lot of change in 2024. Hunterdon Central switched divisions to the Skyland-Raritan, and also got a new head coach in Jon Cantagallo-Rohm.
Central was able to muster a few wins this spring to the tune of a 3-10 record including 2-8 within the division. Central topped Phillipsburg and Northern Hunterdon on the road in early May, 3-2 apiece, and it also defeated Phillipsburg on April 30 at home, 5-0.
At the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament, the Red Devils placed third overall with 15 points. First singles Aryan Verma, second singles Simon Falla, third singles Jacob Lubin, first doubles Kevin Miller and Ryan Miller and second doubles Jack Levison and Stephen Fecho all made the semifinals at their respective flights.
In team dual matches, Verma secured all three of his personal wins in Central’s trio of dual match victories over Phillipsburg and North Hunterdon. Kevin Miller and Lubin also spent plenty of time at singles this year with both earning wins.
North Hunterdon
The Lions of North Hunterdon were able to find more success in 2024 after moving over to the Skyland-Valley division from the Raritan division.
North Hunterdon went 5-8 this year including 4-4 against other Valley teams after going 0-10 in the Raritan a year ago. North started out just 1-5, but it went on a four-match winning streak against Voorhees, Warren Hills (twice) and Bound Brook.
The Lions other win came over Bound brook as well, and it made the postseason as the 10th seed in North 2, Group 3 (fell to seventh-seeded Iselin Kennedy in the first round).
North Hunterdon also placed sixth at the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament with 10 points.
First singles Christian Vandergroot led the team with six wins including two in super tiebreakers over Bound Brook. Second singles Tyler Brittain was next with five wins while third singles Lucas Wojdyla had four.
Only first doubles player Ajay Bhatt is a senior, which means six other starters could be back next season including his partner Joseph Rizza, second doubles Nick Fromosky/Zachary Moore and the singles trio.
Look for the Lions to take another leap forward with that much experience expected to return.
Voorhees
The Vikings of Voorhees had a new coach in Katherine Cortes this year, and they went 6-7 on the year with a 5-5 record within the Skyland-Valley.
Voorhees began the year 2-0 and 3-1 with wins over Bound Brook, North Hunterdon and Warren Hills before close slip-ups to Gill St. Bernard’s, Somerville and North Hunterdon.
The Vikings got back on track once again by defeating Bound Brook and Warren Hills again on back-to-back days at the end of April. Voorhees would go on to notch another win on the road at Roxbury as well.
Voorhees qualified for the North 2, Group 2 state tournament as the 11th seed as it lost on the road to sixth-seeded Gov. Livingston. The Vikings took fourth at the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament as well with 14 points, just one point out of third and four out of second place.
First doubles Shrenik Rakshit and William Morgan also reached the final at the HWST while third singles Grayson Schultze and second doubles Sid Mariano and Jaden Vega each made it to the semifinals at the tournament.
Nicholas Brechka missed the HWST due to another obligation, but between second and third singles this season he posted seven wins, second most behind Vega and Mariano’s eight victories together.
Chris Carlucci also won five times at first singles, second singles Tristan Dornbusch had six triumphs and Morgan and Rakshit had six as a duo.
Dornbusch, a two-year starter, is the lone starter of the bunch. With Carlucci, Rakshit and Schultze being freshmen, the future is bright for the Vikings.
Contact Chris Nalwasky at cnalwasky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisNalwasky.
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