ERMA — The Caper Tiger girls tennis team improved to 4-3 on the season last week with a close win over visiting Our Lady of Mercy Academy.
The Lower Cape May Regional High School girls team, still relatively young, beat OLMA 3-2 on Sept. 16 with the two losing matches going into a third set.
First singles Mia Gilbert won 6-1, 6-0 over Erin Malixi; third singles Reilly Fitzpatrick beat counterpart Halle Dolce by the same score; and second doubles Aubrey Gamble and Kaleigh Griser won 6-1, 6-1 over OLMA’s Samantha Juarez and Katheryn Kolos.
At second singles, LCMR’s Casey Fitzpatrick split sets with Lily Mayo, 5-7, 6-3, before falling 10-7 in the third set.
At first doubles, OLMA’s Sophia Terry and Leah Bosco gave up their first set 6-2 to Caper Tigers Mia Teng and Gia Guzzi, then rebounded with a 6-3 win in the second set and a 10-7 margin in the tie-breaking set.
Head coach Max Gilbert, a former standout player for the Middle Township High School tennis team, said his young players are putting the work in as he strives to get consistency out of them.
“The more they’re here, the more they put in, the more they’ll get out of it. That’s how I see it,” he said.
He believes they’re doing fine given that two of the team’s three losses have come via Mainland Regional, a perennial Group III power that is 8-0 so far, and Middle Township, which sports a 9-2 record.
Gilbert believes the team could have had another win, but the West Deptford match was called off because of rain.
“We could be 5-2 if we got that Oakcrest win (they lost 3-2), but sometimes it slips through. We’re here to practice, we’re here to strive and trying to get that winning record,” Gilbert said.
Running through his lineup, he talked first about Mia Gilbert, “who, funny enough, is my little sister. I’ve been training her for a while and my father, Matthew Gilbert, has as well. He’s a volunteer.” (The elder Gilbert coached the Middle Township boys team to a 24-2 record last spring and to the finals of the South Jersey Group II sectional.)
The junior, he said, has a two-handed forehand and backhand, “so it’s a little odd, throws off her opponents. She tries to stay consistent, doesn’t … go for too much. She tries to keep it nice and simple, because tennis is a difficult sport to pick up. So as you go, you kind of learn your own play style and she’s learned that two-handed forehand and backhand is her specialty.”
Casey Fitzpatrick is a freshman who did the U.S. Tennis Association program at the Cape May Tennis Club. She beat out older sister Reilly Fitzpatrick for second singles.
“She’s trying to find her way. As a freshman, it’s hard to get thrown into that second singles spot,” Gilbert said, “so she’s trying to find her good, happy medium. That’s what they call it in the tennis world. Just her own game style.”
Older sister Reilly, a junior, is new to varsity after playing JV last year.
“She kind of got thrown into the third singles spot. She’s used to doubles because she played JV doubles last year, but she tries to stay consistent as well, tries to find weaknesses in her opponents,” the coach said. “At that third singles spot, it’s just a lot about strategy and consistent game play.”
He added teams want a consistent player to get a key point in matches.
At first doubles is senior Mia Teng and junior Gia Guzzi.
“They’re brand new partners. This is their first year together, first year of playing varsity at all,” Gilbert said. “They’re trying to learn that cross-the-court game play and trying to be big at the net. They’re brand new, but they are friends. They’ve been friends before coming in here. So it’s good to see a nice friendship.”
At second doubles are junior Kaleigh Griser and sophomore Aubrey Gamble. Both have experience in the JV ranks, the coach said, “but they stepped up and honestly, they’re playing really well. The longer these practices go and the longer the season goes, I honestly see huge improvement in both of them.”
Gilbert said the change in divisions should be beneficial for his team this season.
“I would love to see how, honestly, me as a coach and them as players could work together and see how competitive our team can be. I know the past couple of years, we’ve been in that high division, playing all the big schools, like Vineland, Mainland, Middle, Ocean City,” he said. “Getting dropped down this year gives us a whole new kind of perspective on the game.”
The Caper Tigers beat Wildwood, Hammonton and Holy Spirit, in addition to OLMA. They’re home next at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, before a string of six away matches.
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
