Chatham Singles Too Much for Mountain Lakes in State Tournament

Chatham tennis's stellar singles play carried it to a 3-2 victory Thursday against Mountain Lakes in the NJSIAA North II, Group 2 sectional semifinals.

Patrick Monaghan, Quentin Monaghan, and Matt Romei each won their singles matches in decisive fashion. Romei and Quentin Monaghan both defeated their opponents 6-0, 6-0, while Patrick Monaghan won 6-1, 6-1.

The Chatham doubles teams of Matt Evans and Andrew Coppola and Chris Harvey and Chad Gildersleeve fell in highly competitive matches.

The team will face Bernards in the sectional final on Tuesday. But Head Coach Bruce Humphreys is looking ahead to a potential matchup against Pascack Hills in what would be the Group 2 semifinals next Thursday.

"[Our two teams] are two of the strongest in the state," Humphreys said of the imminent matchup.

Chatham faced Pascack Hills earlier in the year and "barely got by them" thanks to their singles play, he said.

Humphreys also said that his doubles teams needed the most work.

"[You've] got to keep working because these [teams] are all good," he said. "There is no time to take vacations."

On the Mountain Lakes side, it was a bittersweet end to the season—according to Head Coach Ginny O'Donnell—as her team won its conference but ended the season with an injured star in Dylan Gordon and another ill player in Ryan McWilliams.

Both were unable to compete against Chatham.

"It's tough to end like this, but overall, we had a very good year," she said. "I'm very proud of my team. They are awesome kids."