Ocean City Girls Advance to South Jersey Tennis Finals

The Ocean City High School girls' tennis team usually has the advantage of playing on grass courts.

However, inclement weather forced the Red Raiders inside on Friday to play on the hard surface at Greate Bay Tennis Club in Somers Point.

The way the Red Raiders played it probably wouldn't have matter if they played in mud. The Red Raiders, the No. 2 seed, breezed past Lacey Township, the No. 3 seed, 5-0, to advance to the NJSIAA Group III South championships.

Ocean City won every match in straight sets and handed the Lions (15-1) their first loss of the season.

"It feels really good," said Ocean City's No. 3 singles player Carling Mott, who clinched the win. "It hasn't sunk in yet. It's good that we are going to the South Jersey final."

"We played really well," Ocean City No. 2 singles player Aida Pleho said. "We were here to win and we did."

Ocean City will take on top seed Moorestown (17-3), which advanced to the finals by beating No. 4 Seneca on Thursday. Moorestown has won 22 consecutive sectional finals, including a 2008 win over Ocean City.

The semifinals match was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was moved to Friday because of rain.

It might not be their home court at the school, but most of the Red Raiders are familiar with the facility, and train there, especially during the winter.

"I rather play on hard courts than grass," Ocean City's top player Gabby DuBrille said. "I prefer them a lot more. I was kind of excited when I found out we were playing here."

"It's kind of like our home court even though we aren't at home," Mott said. "We practice on hard court and the grass so it wasn't a disadvantage. What was a disadvantage was the whole scheduling and the fact that there were only two courts."

DuBrille and Pleho started the match off, and didn't use the courts long.

DuBrille won 6-1, 6-1 over Kelsey McAndrew at first singles.

"I heard they were 15-0 and I was a little worried about that since they haven't lost a match," DuBrille said. "I just came out and played my game and played well."

Pleho won her second singles match, 6-4, 6-3 over Nicole Gatyas.

"We were on it today," Pleho said. "We were excited. We were pumped."

Mott lifted any pressure off the doubles team by winning her third singles match, 6-2, 6-2 against Lacey's Lauren Voltaggio.

"I think I played very well," Mott said. "My serve was working and that's kind of rare. Everything clicked today."

The doubles teams still played like there was something at stake, as Lauren Loggi and Leah Kornberg defeated Rebeckah Hanson and Carly Ragan, 6-1, 6-2, at first doubles.

Heather Mazzeo and Eva Nusbaum cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Kate Elliott and Kelsey Cornelius.