Doubles Teams Come Through as Chatham Tennis Wins Sectional Championship

MILLBURN — Despite just the third loss from Patrick Monaghan all season, the Chatham tennis team routed Bernards 4-1 to win the boys' tennis North II, Group 2 finals on Tuesday afternoon at Millburn High School. It was the Cougars' first sectional championship on the tennis courts since 2001.

"You always want to win [all the matches]," said Chatham head coach Bruce Humphreys. "[Monaghan] has been playing well all year. It was a tough match, bad luck; he broke all three rackets, they had to set the strings and he had to go to another racket. He had no feel for it. Pat's tough, he's a competitor and he'll come back. Those guys have been winning all year long and now someone else had a chance to be the hero."

Monaghan, playing first singles, dropped the first set 5-7 to Mountaineer Luke Roser but battled back to win the second set, 6-1, in stunning fashion. Roser, however, took the final set, 6-2, after Monaghan broke his three rackets.

"I played terrible," said Monaghan. "There's really nothing else to say. I wasn't focused at all."

Patrick's brother, Quentin, fared much better on the court in the second singles match, dispatching Harrison Clark 6-1, 6-2. Midway through the second set, Clark suffered a twisted ankle, which worked in his favor. The 20 minute delay gave both players time to rest, though Clark came back at much less than 100 percent after a tape job.

"It went pretty well," Monaghan. "I was a little slow coming out after the injury. I thought I started the match pretty well. At first I thought he was cramping, but I guess he twisted his ankle."

Matt Romei, manning the third singles slot, also routed his opponent, Danny Hout, 6-1, 6-2. Besides beating their respective opponents 6-1, 6-2, Monaghan and Romei have something else in common: they both won to keep intact their undefeated records on the season.

"[Being undefeated] feels pretty good," said Romei. "I didn't expect it at the beginning of the season, but I take it one match at a time and it just happened. We had some long points and he played pretty well and came up with some nice shots."

Matt Evans and Andrew Coppola fell behind 3-2 in their first set during the first doubles but battled back to win 7-5. They followed that with a 6-4 win over John Goode and Eric Oringer in the second set to win the match.

"[Winning the section] feels pretty good," said Humphreys. "It was the first time our doubles really had to come through and win one. Usually it's our singles players. I hope it gives them some confidence."

Chad Gildersleeve and Chris Harvey took down Jordan Isaacs and Sam Rosen 6-4, 6-4 in the second doubles to round out the Cougar win.

"[Both doubles] cut down their unforced errors," Humphreys said. "They served a lot better."

Chatham will face the winner of the Pascack Hills/Indian Hills matchup on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Mercer County Park in the Group 2 semifinals.