Chatham Boys' Tennis Falls in Tournament of Champions Final

WEST WINDSOR — It's hard to beat a good team three times in one season. The Chatham boys' tennis team learned that lesson on Thursday afternoon.

The Cougars (30-2) fell 3-2 to Westfield (29-3), a team they've already beaten twice this season, in the finals of the Tournament of Champions at Mercer County Park.

"It's still a great ride," said Chatham head coach Bruce Humphreys. "Of course you want to win, but it didn't happen. When you're in the game you have to be willing to accept it. It's not always going to happen. We had a great season, and this one just didn't come together. Everybody played hard but we got outplayed, bottom line."

Chatham fell behind early, as Chad Gildersleeve and Chris Harvey fell 6-1, 6-0 to Tom Kowalski and Scott Thompson in second doubles.

"I feel that it's important to get that first point," said Thompson. "It sets up the team with exciting attitude and confidence. It sets up a lot of fun for the rest of the matches. We wanted to control the net, use good serves, good returns and attack their weakness."

The Cougars knotted things up at 1-1 in second doubles, though. Quentin Monaghan dropped the first set to Justin Snyder, but rallied to win the next two. After the next break it was 3-2, and then 5-2 before Monaghan won the set 6-4. Monaghan, again, fell behind 2-1 in the second set but, again, rallied to take the set 6-2 to even things up at 1-1.

"We got a point for the team," said Monaghan. "I guess that's the only real thing."

The Blue Devils jumped ahead 2-1 via a triumph in the first doubles, as Matt Evans and Andrew Coppola lost 6-2, 6-2 to Graime Stahl and Alan Catu.

"I think we were in it mentally," said Stahl. "We came into it knowing it was going to be a battle because they're a good team. We kept playing hard, playing tough. Our focus was to make a lot of first serves and put a lot of returns into play. First you have to put balls in play. That's what we were trying to do."

Already up 2-1, Westfield needed just one more point to clinch the championship. They got it by doing something that hasn't been done all season—beating Matt Romei.

"[Beating undefeated Romei] feels great," said Westfield's Adam Reich. "I knew that it would be a tough match coming into this. He's been playing well all year and had great results. But I'm just happy I could pull it out."

Romei fell behind 2-1 in the first set, but traded games the rest of the way through before eventually falling 7-5. Reich was much more dominant in the second set, taking a 6-1 decision.

"I think that my consistency improved as the match went on," said Reich. "I really got (better) in the second set and it ended up working out for me."

Pat Monaghan routed Scott Bernstein 6-0 in the first set and took a hard-fought 7-5 victory in the second. However, it was all for naught as the match was already decided, and Chatham will have to wait at least another year for its first tennis state title.

"We just prepared like usual," said Humphreys. "You give a lot of credit to Westfield. They played really well. All the matches were tough."