Millburn Falls in State Doubles Championship

Top seeded Jared Wishnow and Mac Johnson seemed to be on their way to a state championship win in the first set of the  NJSIAA  doubles tournament against Livingston rivals Thursday, winning 6-0.

But LHS' Matt Wolff and Jesse Bloom, the second seed, turned things around in the seventh game and never looked back during an 0-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over the top-seeded Wishnow and Johnson during the NJSIAA Doubles Tournament Championship at Mercer County Indoor in West Windsor.

“Our guys got pumped up and began playing more aggressively and Millburn came back down to earth a little,” said Livingston coach Elliot Lovi of the dramatic shift in momentum.

Johnson and Wishnow took the first set in less than 20 minutes. The onslaught continued as Johnson’s service game gave Millburn a 1-0 lead in the second set.

Some terrific groundstrokes, aggressive net play and mistake-free tennis helped Millburn rally in the first seven games. Meanwhile, Bloom and Wolff were piling up the unforced errors, mainly by hitting groundstrokes into the net or long, and were having a hard time getting to the net.

Livingston's turnaround started on Bloom’s big serve in the second game of the second set. It continued as both Bloom and Wolff were getting to the net more affectively.

The LHS duo reeled off five straight games to take a commanding, 5-1, lead in the second set. Millburn took the first game of the third set, but Wolff and Bloom rallied to win the final six games.