Bears avenge defeat, win share of 13th straight title

JEFF GRANIT staff East Brunswick’s Jenny Tsay led the Bears to a share of the GMC’s Red Division title this season, the Bears 13th consecutive championship, as well as the GMC Tournament title.

Put simply, the East Brunswick girls tennis team was not willing to become the first team in 13 years not to win at least a share of the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division title.

The Bears, who recently topped J.P. Stevens for the GMC Tournament crown, evened their match-play record against the Hawks at 1-1 this year with a 3-2 victory.

Stevens’ Lucy Zhang, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the state individual tournament before being beaten on Saturday, gave the Hawks the early edge with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Anna Tarasova on Tuesday.

But the Bears’ Luiza Kiyamova responded with a 7-5, 6-2 second singles win over Ryan Johnson to even things up. Miriam Jasiak gave the Bears their second singles victory with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Maria Kuznetsova.

In doubles action, Stevens got the point at first doubles when Jo-Ming Chiang and Nicole Kesselman topped Jenny Tsay and Christine Munteanu, 6-4, 6-3, before the East Brunswick second doubles team of Katherine Chen and Merrin Rosenberg won the day’s most exciting match over Dawn Kang and Priya Sachedova, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6.

With the win, East Brunswick improved to 15-5 on the year, and avenged the earlier 3-2 loss to the Hawks. That defeat ended EB’s string of 12 consecutive years without a loss in the Red Division.