MHS Varsity Tennis Goes 4-1 in a Busy Week

The Millers’ varsity tennis team racked up four conference wins in the last week, dusting off Montclair, Columbia, Seton Hall Prep, and Montclair-Kimberley Academy with nary a court lost.

The one defeat, 3-2, came Wednesday against archrival Newark Academy, which has prevailed in two out of three meetings. 

The Millburn team now heads into the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA tournament with a 10-3 Super Essex Conference (American Division) record and a 17-6 record overall

The story in this last week of regular conference matches is the depth of Millburn’s varsity team. That strong bench has enabled Coach Bill Wickenheisser to shuffle the lineup and continue scoring decisive victories.

This week, regular top-court man Eric Cohen notched wins against Montclair and MKA, suffering his one loss against Newark Academy’s Daniel Eatroff.

Junior Rob Xie has alternated between first and second singles throughout the season.

This week, Xie played second against Montclair, Newark Academy, and MKA, and top court against Columbia and Seton Hall. He notched easy victories in all but the Newark Academy match, where he ultimately bowed to Minuteman Andre Rivera in a grueling three-setter.

The third singles position has been filled recently by a three-person tag team.

Tristan Lane, who played second singles against Montclair and Seton Hall, commanded the third spot against Newark Academy, beating Logan Erickson. 6-3, 6-3. Jon Duan won against Montclair and Columbia, as did Alex Shipp against Seton Hall Prep and MKA.

Top seeds

As for first doubles, Mac Johnson and Jared Wishnow, whose winning ways have earned them the top seed in the state doubles rankings, provided Millburn with points against Montclair, Newark Academy, and MKA. Subbing in for them to beat Seton Hall Prep were Teddy Moskovitz and Dean Koman, while Justin Cooper and Brian Alter took out Columbia’s first doubles duo.

Coach Wickenheisser also tweaked the second doubles formula.

Nicky Chen-Schmidt and Moskovitz drubbed both Montclair and MKA but took a tough three-set loss against Newark Academy’s Reid Schalet and Adam Hyatt, the fourth-ranked duo in the state. Ben Fischler and Andrew Giles played second doubles against Columbia and won easily, and Chen-Schmidt and Duan teamed to defeat Seton Hall Prep.

The NJSIAA tournament began with Group brackets last week. Top-seeded Millburn, which had a bye in the first round, is slated to begin its tournament run on Tuesday against eighth-seeded Nutley High School, which beat ninth seed Colonia in the round of 16.