Dodgers Boys Tennis Plays Tough vs. Mountain Lakes

MOUNTAIN LAKES–Mountain Lakes is one of the top boys tennis teams in Morris County, and the toughest Madison has faced in this young season.

True to form, the Lakers knocked off the Dodgers, 5-0, in an NJAC match Tuesday. But there's no shame in that scoreline, said Madison coach Mike Pollard.

"It's always better to play someone as good or better than you," Pollard said. "We did well."

Most impressive in defeat was Alex Wang in the first singles, who fell to Mountain Lakes senior Dylan Gordon 6-3, 6-1, though it was a tighter match than the score indicates.

Wang had his chances in a 50-minute first set. After being broken early, he faced three break points at 1-3 after three straight excellent passing shots from Gordon. But a pair of backhand winners helped Gordon hold serve.

Gordon appeared to try and force the ball to Wang's backhand early on, and then adjusted as the Madison senior grew comfortable.

"I'd rather hit my backhand than my forehand," Wang said. "His coach must have said something midway through the first set, because I started to get a lot more forehands later on in. I wasn't playing too great, and made a lot of errors on [the forehand] side."

The Mountain Lakes standout came up with a number of beautiful lob shots and made big plays at the right time to break in the ninth game, winning the first set.

Gordon appeared to wear down Wang with his persistent volleying, and while Wang hit four winners in his final service game in the second set, Gordon earned the point for Mountain Lakes with service winners on his last two serves.

Elsewhere, Brian Williams showed great power at second singles, coming up with brilliant passing shots at times. But he could not consistently string together multiple points at a time, falling to Ryan McWilliams, 6-0, 6-3.

"He has enormous power," Pollard said. "Once he learns to control it, he's going to be unstoppable. Tennis is a game about finesse, shot selection, balance. This is all stuff we're going to work on throughout the season."

Williams, a senior, led in the second set, 2-0, but had trouble harnessing his powerful forehand, dropping six of the final seven games.

The closest Madison came to a victory was in the second doubles, where the team of Jake Steinmetz and Kevin Reichek were beaten by Mountain Lakes' Chris Chan and Chris Frey, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2.

Steinmetz and Reichek took advantage of the Lakers pair's service woes to win six straight in the second set. They held a 1-0 lead in the deciding set, but were broken in their next service game.

Serving at 2-4, Steinmetz appeared to put his team back in contention with a perfect half-volley at 30-all. But the Mountain Lakes duo roared back with three straight points to take an insurmountable 5-2 lead.

"We made some mistakes, but we're improving," Pollard said.  "We're learning to be better tennis players."

The Dodgers return to the courts Friday at 4 p.m., when they host Hunterdon Central in a non-conference match.

MOUNTAIN LAKES 5, MADISON 0
-First singles: Dylan Gordon (ML) def. Alex Wang (MAD), 6-3, 6-1
-Second singles: Ryan McWilliams (ML) def. Brian Williams (MAD), 6-0, 6-3
-Third singles: Robert Khalev (ML) def. Jack Rutland (MAD), 6-1, 6-0
-First doubles: Harry Peacock/Russ Gotilla (ML) def. Henry Smith/Eric Lehman (MAD), 6-4, 6-1
-Second doubles: Chris Chan/Chris Frey (ML) def. Jake Steinmetz/Kevin Reichek (MAD), 6-2, 0-6, 6-2