Absegami Girls' Tennis Team Keeps It Close, But Falls To Ocean City

The Absegami High School girls’ tennis team is looking to compete this season. That's what it did on Monday, Sept. 12, despite losing 5-0 to visiting Ocean City in Galloway Township.

The Braves (1-1) are a young, rebuilding squad even though they return six of seven players on the varsity roster.

Absegami, which opened the season with a 3-2 win over Egg Harbor Township on Sept. 9, has two sophomores and a freshman filling in the three singles spots.

When the Braves face elite programs like Ocean City, they want to win, but know that isn't always possible. Not yet anyway.

On Monday, sophomore Brianna Nguyen battled Ocean City's Gabby DuBrille at first singles in a match that lasted for almost two and a half hours. The Braves sophomore found herself down, 5-3, in the first set, but turned the momentum of the match in her favor, and eventually tied the match at six.

To her credit, DuBrille bounced back to win the tiebreaker and the following set against Nguyen, who played through an arm injury.

"I thought I was just going to lose, but I wasn't going to give up," said Nguyen about being down 5-2 in the first set. "I just tried to get the ball in, that's all."

It's Nguyen's attitude and talent that has her at the top of Absegami's ladder.

"Brianna is our star athlete. She has been playing for years with her father coaching her," Absegami coach Amy Landgraf said. "She is amazing. She really is. She never ceases to impress me. She gets to shots that in a million years I never think she will get to. She gets to them and kills them. She is someone the girls can look up to athletically and strive to be. That's what a first singles (player) should be."

Freshman Alyssa Brady and sophomore Laura Nastasi both dropped their singles matches against Ocean City, but won key points in the Braves' win over EHT. Nguyen also won her match against the Eagles.

"It wasn't easy," Nguyen said.  "It was a big fight."

The win was important to the Braves considering they won just four times in 2010.

"It was good to go into the season winning," Landgraf said. "The last couple of years we were not so good, so starting the year winning was good for morale."

Melissa Kelley and Blair Cournoyer play first doubles, and Golda Meir Valmoria and Olivia Conover play second doubles for the Braves.

The later duo lost in straight sets against the Eagles, but both sets ended in a tiebreaker.

"I always want to do better than last year," Landgraf said. “I would like to be .500. It's looking good. We have some new players that are promising. Our lineup is very young. I'm looking forward to a good season if our last match is any indication."