Borr Battles in Tough Three-set Singles Loss

It was an amazing weekend for Westfield High sophomore tennis star Lexi Borr.

Borr lost a memorable 1-6, 6-3, 4-6 decision Sunday to top-seeded sophomore Tina Jiang of Gill St. Bernards in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association singles tournament title match at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

Borr and her teammates will be playing for the North 2 Group IV title against Bridgewater-Raritan at the Plainfield High School courts at 2 p.m. on Monday.

But the weekend was about individuals.

"One of the directors of the tournament has been doing it for eight or nine years and said it was the best match they'd ever seen,'' said Westfield coach Matt Varhley.

"It was almost like watching a professional match. When a tennis match reaches that level it'' not about who's the best, but about who's the best that given day. If they played 50 times, Lexi would probably beat Tina 25 times.''

Borr survived off one match point and even had a game point before hitting a backhand into the net on the final point of the battle.

"The first set had a lot of close game and they just didn't go my way," said Borr, has a 21-1 record this season and is 53-3 for her career.  "I knew I had to do better in the second set. It just came down to a few points at the end. Tina played great."

Borr's only losses last season were to Ridge junior Kelly Williford during a team match and to Jiang 6-16-4 in the state singles tournament semifinal. Borr avenged the loss to Williford in Saturday's quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4, then beat New Milford sophomore Saysee Orozco 6-1, 6-0 to move to the final.

"There's nothing more that Lexi could have done,'' Varhley said. "She played her heart out. She played like a champion. It was like a boxing match. It was like two heavyweights going at each other. It was really impressive to watch and see.''

Borr, the two time No. 1 singles champion of Union County, will now focus on helping Westfield defend its state Group IV title.

"She's completely focused and prepared,'' her coach said.