UC's Girls Tennis Team Comes Together for Match Against Roselle Park

For the first time Wednesday afternoon, the Union Catholic girls’ tennis team had all seven position players for its varsity match at Roselle Park.

That, in itself, can be considered a victory for the Vikings.

“I want to get the team to work together and we finally got seven girls on the court, which is great,” Coach Bill Boyar said.

Coming off a 6-10 season a year ago, Boyar expected continued improvement. However, he lost several players due to a variety of reasons.

“Maybe, before the year is out, we can win another couple of matches,” Boyar said.

Including the Roselle Park match, Union Catholic has been victorious only once so far this season. The Vikings defeated visiting Roselle 3-2 on Sept. 16.

“Having seven girls compete against Roselle Park was a big plus for the team,” Boyar said.

Next year will be the first season Union Catholic will have someone new at first singles since 2005. Senior Jaelyn Lee has competed at the always-tough position for the Vikings ever since her freshman season in 2006.

“Jaelyn Lee has been a rock on the team, a four-year letter-winner and she’s always been at No. 1 singles,” Boyar said. “She’s out there every day trying, so I have to give her a lot of credit.”

Colleen Cassidy, a junior, is performing at second singles. This is her third year on varsity.

“She’s a dependable kid, has long volleys and is also out there trying,” Boyar said. “She played doubles and singles for us last year.”

At third singles is freshman Avery McWilliams. In Tuesday’s 4-1 setback at Rahway, McWilliams won her first match, beating her Rahway opponent 6-4, 6-2 for Union Catholic’s only victory.

“She was excited and it was a great thing to see, her winning her first match,” Boyar said.

Both doubles teams – all four girls are juniors - are playing varsity tennis for the first time, with Dominique Haywood and Raven Whitehead at first doubles and Janie Reyes and Gianna Zydallis at second.

This is a team that will not win many matches this season. However, the girls are out there competing and are part of a team, which is a big part of high school athletics.

“We’ve had some adversity, but the girls are showing up for the matches and are willing to learn,” Boyar said.

Lee played Rebecca Vera of Roselle Park Wednesday, who was seeded fifth and finished fifth at first singles in last week’s Union County Tournament at the Donald Van Blake Courts in Plainfield. Westfield won the team title again, while Roselle Park finished ninth.

The Panthers will be competing in next week’s Central Jersey, Group 1 playoffs, where they reached the semifinals last year.

Lee managed to beat Vera in one game before falling in straight sets.

“She’s a good leader by example,” Boyar said of Lee. “She has a decent serve and backhand and is more of a finesse player.”

NOTES: Competing for Union Catholic in the UCT were Lee at first singles, Cassidy at third and Haywood and Whitehead at first doubles.

Boyar and his wife, Marybeth, are biology teachers at Union Catholic. They are New Providence residents.

The Vikings have seven matches left, with their next one at Scotch Plains Friday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m.

Scotch Plains finished third in the UCT, with Kent Place of Summit coming in second. 

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS

2009 ROSTER:

FIRST SINGLES: Jaelyn Lee, senior, from Plainfield

SECOND SINGLES: Colleen Cassidy, junior, from Scotch Plains

THIRD SINGLES: Avery McWilliams, freshman, from Plainfield

FIRST DOUBLES: Dominique Haywood, junior, from Newark

and Raven Whitehead, junior, from Plainfield

SECOND DOUBLES: Janie Reyes, junior, from Linden

and Gianna Zydallis, junior, from Metuchen

Coach: Bill Boyar, fourth year 

UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS

RESULTS/schedule:

Sept. 9 (H) Summit 5, Union Catholic 0

Sept. 10 (A) Cranford 5, Union Catholic 0

Sept. 14 (H) Roselle Catholic 3, Union Catholic 2

Sept. 16 (H) Union Catholic 3, Roselle 2

Sept. 17 (H) Plainfield 3, Union Catholic 2

Sept. 21 (H) New Providence 5, Union Catholic 0

Sept. 22 (A) Johnson 5, Union Catholic 0

Sept. 23 (A) Dayton 4, Union Catholic 1

Sept. 29 (A) Rahway 4, Union Catholic 1

Sept. 30 (A) Roselle Park 5, Union Catholic 0

Oct. 2 at Scotch Plains, 4 p.m.

Oct. 6 at Mount St. Mary, 4 p.m.

Oct. 8 Rahway, 4 p.m.

Oct. 9 at St. Mary’s, Elizabeth, 4 p.m.

Oct. 13 Linden, 4 p.m.

Oct. 15 Governor Livingston, 4 p.m.

Oct. 22 at Solomon Schechter, 4 p.m.