Timber Creek Girls' Tennis Cruises Past Triton

RUNNEMEDE— girls' tennis (4-1) continued its recent hot streak on Monday, beating Triton for its fourth straight win, 5-0.

The Chargers didn't lose a single set in each of the five matches that were played.

The closest match of the afternoon came in a singles matchup between Triton's Sam Funk and Timber Creek's Aarynn Crawley. Both players did a good job of holding serve in the first set and would eventually battle to a 6-6 deadlock, forcing a tiebreak.

During the tiebreak, Funk jumped out in front of Crawley, 3-0. After Crawley made an unforced error that allowed Funk to go up 3-0, Crawley appeared to be very frustrated.

Timber Creek coach Jean DeMarco helped settle her nerves.

“She had to be patient and she had to be confident,” said DeMarco. “She tends to get down on herself when she misses a shot here and there. But when she has confidence in herself and patience, you saw what she can do.”

Crawley took over the match from there. She won seven straight points to win the tiebreak 7-3. She then went on to cruise over Funk 6-0 in the second set.

Funk, a junior who is playing tennis for the first time, impressed Triton coach Greg Foster with her resilience in the second set, but she still has some things he'd like her to improve upon.

“I would have liked to see her hit a couple more angles,” said Foster. “Like she was putting it back in the middle of the court. Make her opponent run and make her move a little bit more.”

Overall, the Chargers didn't start off as quickly as they would've hoped against their Black Horse Pike Regional School District rival.

In three of the five matches played, Triton's players were able to hold serve and keep the matches from getting out of hand early. In one of the singles matches, Triton's Jasmine Velazquez was able to hold serve against the Chargers' Jordan Crawley for most of the first set. Crawley got a break late in the set to make the score 5-3 and would close out the set by holding serve on the next game.

Likewise, in one of the doubles matches, the Mustangs' Brittany Harlow and Lauren Lesch had a lead of 3-2 in the first set of their match with Timber Creek's Miranda Maples and Naomi Payne. The pair would lose their lead and eventually fall in the first set 6-4.

“That's just the way they've been going,” said DeMarco of her team's slow start in matches. “I'm not sure what it is. I know they're all pretty good athletes and they prevail in the second set.”

“Jasmine, (Funk), and (Harlow and Lesch), they were in the first set,” said Foster. “You'd like to see them compete even harder in the second set, but they all lose 6-0. That's somewhere we need to improve.”

The Chargers were firmly in control in the second set of all five matches. They would take four of the five second sets by a score of 6-0. Haley Washington was the only Charger to lose a game in the second set, as her opponent, Triton's Krista Wells, held serve once to make the second set 5-1 before Washington closed out the match.

Timber Creek will ride its four straight wins into a critical match with Shawnee today at home. Shawnee handed the Chargers' their only loss this season, edging them out 3-2 in the season opener.

DeMarco believes her team has the talent to contend with the Renegades, who were ranked No. 10 in the preseason Courier-Post Top 10 poll.

“If we can beat them, we have a shot at the division,” DeMarco said. “I expect us to go into the playoffs and maybe win a match or two.”

Meanwhile, the young Mustangs were clearly overmatched against Timber Creek, but Foster is looking for his team to improve over the remainder of the season. Triton's record is only a game below .500, which means the team still has an outside chance of reaching the postseason.

“We just want to make improvements every day, every day get better and learn something new every match,” said Foster.

Timber Creek 5, Triton 0

Jordan Crawley (TC) d. Jasmine Velazquez (T) 6-3, 6-0

Aarynn Crawley (TC) d. Sam Funk (T) 7-6 (3), 6-0

Haley Washington (TC) d. Krista Wells (T) 6-0, 6-1

Brianna Evans and Amanda Riiff (TC) d. Sam Kelly and Lacey Wallen (T) 6-0, 6-0

Miranda Maples and Naomi Payne (TC) d. Brittany Harlow and Lauren Lesch 6-4, 6-0