Highlights from 2022 boys tennis season in North Jersey
Demarest was the sole North Jersey boys tennis team to win a group title in 2022, returning to the Tournament of Champions in the final edition of the event.
The Norsemen were tested throughout the season, including a 3-2 win over Pascack Hills in the North 1, Group 2 sectional final, but reached the Tournament of Champions unbeaten as a team at 21-0.
"This has been a special year," Demarest coach David Johnson said after the sectional final. "All of the conditioning we have done from the beginning of the season really paid off."
Senior David Berenfeld won an emotionally -harged third singles in the sectional final to give the Norsemen the championship win on May 31. Berenfeld overcame a loss in the first set to beat Connor Wong, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
"It's great that it came down to David," Johnson said. "We wanted to go out there and win it for him and for him to be a big part of that today was special."
It was the clinching point for the Norsemen but an important moment for Berenfeld, who missed his sophomore season due to the pandemic and watched his team win a title as a junior while missing the entire year with a shoulder injury.
"It was a lot of hard work to get back to where I am and be able to play singles successfully," he said. "It's the best feeling. It feels like I'm coming back full circle from my freshman year to now."
Despite the title being in hand for Demarest, the match at first singles went on between two of the best singles players in North Jersey. Seniors Luke Patelski and Russell Oh played for over three and a half hours in a marathon match. Patelski overcame a first set loss to defeat Oh, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
"Russell battled for us today," Johnson said. "The title was already decided, but he kept fighting all afternoon because that's the kind of guy he is. Russell won the first set and the rest of the team saw that and I think that made them more relaxed. We needed everyone to win today, but Russell is still able to lead this team with his play."
Demarest defeated Robbinsville, 4-1, in the group semifinals before sweeping all five flights against Haddonfield on June 3 to win the Group 2 title. Demarest will face Millburn on Tuesday in the final Tournament of Champions event in high school boys tennis with the winner to take on top overall seed Newark Academy on Wednesday.
Tenafly wins third straight sectional title
Tenafly leaned on their strong doubles teams in a 3-2 win over Ramapo in Tuesday's North 1, Group 3 final.
The team of Andrew Kim and Joe Kuwama topped Jack Houston and Jason Chin, 6-3, 6-4 in first singles. The duo of Jack Neuman and Ryan Kim beat Albert Carilli and James Wong, 6-0, 6-1 at second doubles. Seiichiro Takayama defeated Sam Martin at third singles, 6-0, 6-1 for the championship clincher.
Ramapo was victorious in the first two singles flights. Max Loia recorded a 6-1, 6-1 win against Jon Tsipunyuk while at second singles, Matthew Miller defeated Luke Han, 6-4, 6-4.
Tenafly will face Princeton in the Group 3 semifinals on Thursday with the winner facing either Mainland or Millburn in the group final.
Glen Rock wins second straight sectional title
Glen Rock has made it a habit of playing tennis into the month of June. For the seventh straight season, the Panthers reached a sectional final, this time besting Pompton Lakes, 4-1, on June 1 for the team's second straight sectional title in North 1, Group 1.
Glen Rock won all three singles flights to claim victory as the No. 2 seed in the bracket, keeping No. 5 seed Pompton Lakes from a first sectional title in 21 years.
Ryan Burke needed a first set tiebreaker, but earned a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 win in straight sets at first singles. Michael Druker took second singles with a 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) over Dylan Huha. Andrew Eisenberg's 6-3, 6-2 victory in the third singles over Ryan Perez clinched the crown for Glen Rock (14-6).
The team of Ben Horne and Vincent Kazella won a 6-3, 6-4 match at second singles for Glen Rock over the Pompton Lakes team of Ryan Johnson and Nick Davis.
Matthew Williams and Mike Kurzynski earned the sole victory for the Cardinals at first singles, a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over Dev Parikh and Max Yuan.
Bergen Tech repeats as sectional champion
Top-seeded Bergen Tech recorded a 4-1 win over Montclair in the North 1, Group 4 championship for the second straight title for the Knights (23-1).
Sandeep Alapati, Fela Fieulleteau, and Udbhav Devarakonda swept the singles flights for Bergen Tech. Alapati topped Tylan Ozkuzey at first singles, 6-3, 6-4, Fieulleteau defeated Sol Cornejo, 6-3, 6-2, at second singles. Devarakonda beat Avery Bronner, 6-4, 6-2 at third singles.
At doubles, Bergen Tech got another win as David Chung and Matthew Song defeated Nolan Ogden and Leon Wang, 6-4, 6-0 in first doubles.
Bergen Tech will face East Brunswick in the Group 4 semifinals on Thursday with the winner facing either Cherry Hill East or the winner of Westfield and J.P. Stevens.
Ajay Kartik, Sandeep Alpati headline list of state qualifiers
North Jersey will be well represented among the top singles and doubles players across New Jersey next month. Pairings for the state singles and doubles tournaments have been released with 21 singles players and seven duos from Bergen and Passaic schools making the cut.
First- and second-round action in the state tournaments begins June 11. Only the top four overall seeds are given specific seedings with the remaining top players placed into a range.
The top name among the 21 singles players from North Jersey schools is sophomore Ajay Kartik of Northern Highlands. Kartik won the first singles title at the Bergen County tournament and is seeded in the 5-8 range.
Bergen Tech senior Sandeep Alapati, who Kartik defeated in the county final, is placed in the 9-16 group. Alapati is in that range alongside two other North Jersey singles players: freshman Balraj Idnani of Park Ridge and sophomore Max Loia of Ramapo.
Three more North Jersey singles players are ranked in the final group of 17-32. Sophomore Josh Greene of Dwight-Englewood is joined by seniors Nick Lawless of St. Joseph (Mont.) and Luke Patelsky of Pascack Hills.
There are 14 other players for North Jersey as a part of the 122-player bracket. Those players are (in alphabetical order):
Max Berina, Don Bosco sophomore
Sahil Chatiwala, Wayne Hills junior
Aron Choe, Leonia senior
Ubdhav Devarakonda, Bergen Tech sophomore
Fela Fieulleteau, Bergen Tech senior
Ishwar Idnani, Park Ridge freshman
Thomas MacDougall, Don Bosco freshman
Justin Martinez, Clifton senior
Alejandro Melo, Waldwick junior
Matthew Miller, Ramapo junior
Max Kaplan, Mahwah senior
Jeffrey Kwon, Cresskill senior
Russell Oh, NV/Demarest senior
Piotr Widerynski, Lakeland sophomore
Seven doubles teams are also among the 56 pairs in the state doubles teams, including three teams seeded in group. The team of sophomore Matthew Song and senior David Chung from Bergen Tech are placed in the 5-8 range, along with the team of senior Ryan Lee and junior Jason Boyd from Dwight-Englewood. The two faced off in the first doubles final of the Bergen County tournament, an encounter won by Lee and Boyd.
The other seeded team from North Jersey is the Tenafly team of senior Andrew Kim and freshman Joe Kuwama, placed in the 9-16 range. The other four teams from the area qualified for the tournament are (in alphabetical order):
Shuban Devarakonda/Shan Krishnan, Bergen Tech sophomore/freshman
Davide Orlov/Rajvir Solanky, Dwight-Englewood freshman/sophomore
Ben Siegelheim/Caleb Mancher, Wayne Valley sophomore/sophomore
Brian Song/Daniel Song, Bergen Catholic freshman/freshman
Bergen Tech cruises to second straight county crown
For the second straight season, Bergen Tech is king of tennis in Bergen County. The powerful Knights won the team title on May 15, finishing with a score of 17 points. Demarest was the closest team to dethroning the defending champions, finishing in second place with 10 points.
It was a different path to the top for the Knights compared to last season. In 2021, Bergen Tech won the team title among a crowded field despite not claiming a champion in any of the flights. This time around, the Knights had finalists in all five brackets with two winners making the difference in the team standings.
At first singles, Ajay Kartik of Northern Highlands defeated Bergen Tech's Sandeep Alapati, 7-5 and 6-3. P.J. MacDougall of Don Bosco took the second singles title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win over Fela Fieulleteau of Bergen Tech. The Knights did get a singles title at third singles, when Udbhan Devarakonda beat NV/Demarest's David Berenfeld in the final, 6-2, 6-2.
The team of Ryan Lee and Jason Boyd from Dwight-Englewood took the first doubles title with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Bergen Tech's David Chung and Matthew Song. At second doubles, Bergen Tech's duo of Shan Krishnan and Shuban Devarakonda defeated NV/Demarest’s Roan Ricci and Jaiden Jazurus, 6-0, 6-3.
Wayne Hills wins 17th straight county title
Wayne Hills remains on top of Passaic County boys tennis, narrowly winning its 17th consecutive team title on April 28.
The Patriots won at all three singles flights and finished with 16 points. Pompton Lakes and Wayne Valley tied for second place with 14 team points. Wayne Hills won all three singles tournaments with the top seeds in each bracket.
Sahil Chatiwala beat No. 2 seeed Arin Mohanty of Pompton Lakes, 6-2 and 6-0, in the first singles final. Ryan Hogan clinched the team title for Wayne Hills with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Dylan Huha of Pompton Lakes in the second singles final. At third singles, Rocco Lepore completed the sweep by Wayne Hills with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 2 seed Pavle Konatar of Wayne Valley.
Pompton Lakes and Wayne Valley were each able to stay within striking distance of the team title with wins in the first and second doubles tournaments respectively. Matt Williamd and Mike Kurzynski, the No. 2 seed first doubles, won the title for Pompton Lakes, beating top seed Ben Siegelheim and Kaleb Mencher of Wayne Valley, 6-0 and 7-5. Wayne Valley's duo of Dylan Tecza and Nick Ellis, the top seed at second doubles, won the final with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Sung Ho Jun and Alejandro Olarte of Passaic Tech.
Robert Aitken is a high school sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.
Email: aitken@northjersey.com
Twitter: @robertaitkenjr
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ tennis: Highlights from the 2022 North Jersey boys tennis season
