Turnaround Season for Fair Lawn Girls Tennis

Fair Lawn High School’s girls tennis team has never been at the top of state rankings, but that changed this year after a 19-1 season brought them within reach of a state title for the first time in years.

Four years ago, the team was “terrible,” said coach Matthew Markman. The squad relied on a few key players, most notably Valerie Shklover. But this year the star was focused more on her individual career, playing on the United States Tennis Association circuit. And after injuries took a toll on the starting lineup early on, he had to look for solid performances from deeper in the bench.

The team met the challenges, completing a nearly undefeated season. Even though Shklover was only available for a few major matches, the others stepped up. “We never lost a match that Valerie didn’t play in, because we had so much talent and depth,” Markman said.

But he says that her stardom in Bergen County sports—she was named the county’s player of the year last year in the sport and has earned national rankings—helped generate interest in the team so that more girls would choose tennis over other activities.

“All you need is 5 or 6 kids and you can turn your program around,” he said.

Many of the other players worked hard in the off season, attending tennis camps on their own and keeping up with their skills. And Daria Zaslavsky, one of the power houses that emerged this year, says they’ll work to keep the turnaround going next season.

“We’re gonna train really hard, and we’re gonna come back better than this year and show that we can be number one in the county.”

Coach Markman agrees, telling Patch that he believes injuries played a big role in the match that stopped their title hopes this season. “I think if I had the team together from the beginning, we would have won that match,” he said.

And if all are healthy next season, you can expect the same talent to return. According to Markman, the team is relatively young and all the stars will be back.

The coach emphasizes the closeness of the team, and clearly cherishes the turnaround that they’ve made in the last four years.

“This was one of my favorite coaching seasons. I’ve had state championship boys teams, but building this team and seeing them get better is one of the most fulfilling couple of months that I’ve had.”