Randolph wins first-ever MCT crown
RANDOLPH – If a movie script had been written for the Randolph boys tennis team prior to the start of this weekend’s Morris County Tournament, it would have played out exactly as it unfolded on Sunday at the County College of Morris.
With the Rams having already assured themselves of a share of their first-ever MCT team championship, senior Mitchel Sanders gutted out a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win over Chatham’s Yanik Parsch in defense of his first singles title to give his team the additional point it needed to grab sole possession of the team championship. Randolph’s team title snapped a string of 13 straight by Delbarton, which finished as the runner-up.
“It was definitely fitting that Mitch was the guy who clinched it for us,” Randolph head coach Don Fritch said. “I’m just so happy for the boys. We started the year knowing we had a chance to accomplish something special and it’s the moment we’ve played for all season. I told them throughout the tournament to live in the moment and embrace it and that’s what they did.”
Randolph crowned two individual champions en route to capturing its first MCT team title. In addition to Sanders’ three-set marathon win over Parsch at first singles, its top-seeded first doubles pairing of Cooper Seligson and Stefan Luong also came up winners with a straight-set victory over Chatham’s CJ LaMantia and Paul Ivans in the final.
Sanders’ defense of his first singles title didn’t come without some tense moments against the hard-hitting Parsch, who didn’t play high school tennis the past two seasons but returned this spring for the Cougars. Parsch used a big serve and powerful forehand to jump out to a 4-1 lead in the opening set, only to watch Sanders roar back to win it.
“It took me awhile to adjust to his pace,” Sanders said. “I was hitting off of my back foot too much and I so I started hitting with a little more pace and going for my shots.”
But Sanders was unable to ride the momentum into a wild second set that saw the two players exchange service breaks in each of the first six games before Parsch grabbed control by winning the final three games to even the match.
“I had an energy drop toward the end of the second set and lost focus a bit,” Sanders said. “I knew I had to get it back quickly.”
An evenly-played third set saw Sanders gain the opportunity to serve out the match at 5-3, but Parsch again battled back to 5-5 before the Randolph senior held serve to 6-5 and closed out the match on his second match point.
“I was a little too passive at 5-3 and let him take control,” Sanders said. “I was just happy to be able to close it out and help my team win the championship.”
Delbarton, which finished one point behind Randolph in the team standings, also crowned two individual champions. Parker Pridgeon defeated Mendham’s Kevin Samaan 6-2, 6-3 to capture the second singles title while Robert Steer battled past Randolph freshman Brandon Luong, 7-5, 7-5 to claim the third singles crown.
Montville’s Alex Fass and Nick Awertschenko won the second doubles title with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Mendham’s Jake Steinberg and Max Warner in the final.