New Providence Tennis Season Ends At State Semifinals

All season long, members of the New Providence varsity tennis team fought their way to victory, never giving up and coming out victorious most of the time.

Unfortunately, this time wouldn’t end with a W.

The Pioneers fell to Highland Park 3-2 in the State Semifinals on Thursday at Mercer County Park, winning both doubles matches.

The doubles teams, Tony Therattil and Mike Herrigel as the number one, and Adam Sann and Seth Keller as the number two, easily won 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-3, respectively.

However, the singles could not pull out the victories. Javier Sanchez took a tough 6-0, 6-0 loss, and freshman went down 6-4, 7-5. It all came down to senior Bobby Libera, who did everything he possibly could to come out of the match with the win. For Libera, there would be no celebration, as he fell in the third set tie-breaker, 6-4, 7-6, 7-4.

“I think the better team deserved to win today,” said Pioneers coach John Delloiacono. “However, this year, any one of the four teams could have won in this group.”

Delloiacono had a few parting words for Libera, who is graduating in June.

“Bobby is a blue collar athlete,” said the coach, when asked what Libera brings to the team. “He never, ever, ever gives up and works harder than anybody on the team. The one thing I was most happy with today was with the match on the line, each team had two and Bobby was on the court, and that’s how I wanted it to play out.”

While the season didn’t end with another State crown, the coach sees a bright future with a lot more success on the way.

“All in all, it was a great season and I think I got every single bit from everyone," he said. "I am looking forward to next year.”