Ridge Tennis Defeats Bridgewater 5-0

Like the weather, the Ridge boy’s tennis team remained hot when they defeated Bridgewater-Raritan 5-0 in a regular season match on Tuesday afternoon at the Pleasant Valley Courts in Basking Ridge. No Red Devil dropped a set as the team cruised to yet another win to solidify their already stellar season.

BR

Ridge

Winner

Score

1st Singles

Eric Tai

Alex Ruderman

Alex Ruderman

6-1, 3-1 (retired)

2nd Singles

Mike Solomon

Mike Liu

Mike Liu

6-1, 6-1

3rd Singles

Jerome Bautista

Raj Bawa

Raj Bawa

6-2, 6-0

1st Doubles

Brian Chen and Sai Palani

Stephen Chung and Eric Zhang

Chung and Zhang

7-4 (7-6), 6-2

2nd Doubles

Sinil Hebar and Andrew Stakevich

Rahul Hingorani and Andrew Scaglione

Hingorani and Scaglione

6-2, 6-2

IN SHORT

The Red Devils won handily in almost every match, but were pushed to the limit in the first doubles. They went into tie breakers and nearly lost to Bridgewater, but managed to pull it out after many long games.

Alex Ruderman and Mike Liu shined in their singles matchups. Both will be playing in the singles portion of the state NJSIAA tournament and were able to play relatively efficient games, which was a benefit because of the heat.  In Ruderman’s second set, Bridgewater’s Eric Tai had to retire due to an injury, which could be a benefit to Ruderman as the team has two games remaining in the season, and the state tournament starting on Saturday.

Although the final competitions are regular season games, head coach Chad Griffiths said he understands the importance of these last few games. Ridge is in the middle of a highly contested Conference battle, and on Thursday they hope to play Montgomery for the title.

“Our conference is challenging. We get very well prepared playing teams like Bridgewater in our conference. We may play doubles teams or singles that are weaker than Bridgewater’s but because our conference is so tough they just couldn’t qualify.  Playing these games in heat such as this definitely helps our guys for the home stretch.” — Head Coach Chad Griffiths

RED DEVIL OF THE GAME

Mike Liu— In the 2nd singles, Liu looked very good against one of Bridgewater’s better players in Mike Solomon. He defeated Solomon 6-1, 6-1 and was never behind as he prepares for the final stretch of the season.

OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES

Alex Ruderman-Defeated the only Panther participating in States Eric Tai 6-1, 3-1 after Tai had to retire to an injury.

Raj Bawa-Defeated Bridgewater’s Jerome Bautista in straight sets in what was the shortest match of the day.

COACH’S TAKE

“It was the hottest match of the year so we wanted to make sure everyone was hydrated.  Its good to get straight set wins on all five of our matchups because we wanted to give our guys plenty of rest for the final stretch.  We hope to play for the conference title on Thursday, and we have four guys participating in the state tournament so this final stretch could get grueling so we want to be prepared.”— Griffiths

UP NEXT — Hunterdon Central at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at Pleasant Valley Park Courts in Basking Ridge. ADDED NOTE: The match has been rescheduled until Friday because of predicted bad weather later on Wednesday.