Trio of Bears looks to put icing on the cake
Top-ranked Subramanian inching closer to individual title
BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff East Brunswick’s Vivek Subramanian has the state individual tennis title in his sights, entering yesterday’s semifinal round just one win away from his shot at the elusive championship. The final is set for today at Mercer County Park.

After finishing second to Newark Academy in the Tournament of Champions, the 27-2 East Brunswick High School boys tennis team still has some players alive in the individual tournament, starting, of course, with singles star Vivek Subramanian, the undefeated senior ranked tops in the state.

He played in the semifinals yesterday.

"He’s getting better every day," said head coach Bill Pellagrino, a statement that should unnerve Subramanian’s competition. "Hopefully, he’ll be peaking this week."

Also in the hunt for the Bears, who own both the sectional and state Group IV titles, is the first doubles duo of seniors Jay Kaplan and David Liu, who have two losses all year and met with Bridgewater’s team in the semis yesterday.

Although out of the TOC, the rest of the club had an outstanding season, starting with second singles entry Ross Cohn, a junior knocked out in the first round

"It takes seven people to win 27 matches, and Ross was a major contributor," said Pellagrino.

Junior Ilya Kazakin-Kuteyer, who scored a key triumph in the sectional tourney, also had a standout campaign, along with the second doubles contingent of senior Bob Ren and junior Roger Wang.

"We also had a real contribution from junior Ron Udasin and senior Alex Rothy," Pellagrino said.

But it was Subramanian who set the tone all year for the Bears, as he has throughout his brilliant career at East Brunswick. All that’s missing for the standout is an individual state title, something he fully expects to capture later today.

Subramanian entered the tournament as the favorite to emerge with the title, which he understands is a difficult position to be in. He is the player everyone is gunning for — making anything short of a win a disappointment for the Bear.

On Tuesday, Subramanian survived a tough match from the eighth seed, Toms River East’s Alex Zuck. Leading 5-4 in the first set, Subramanian had set point with Zuck serving but was unable to close it out.

However, he regrouped in time to win the next two games to close out the set. In the second set, with the score tied 3-3, Subramanian found his groove and reeled off three straight games to clinch the win.

That win earned his a spot in the semifinals against a familiar foe — Marlboro’s Andrew Sharnov. Sharnov was the top player in the Shore Conference this year, and is a player who is certainly capable of surprising Subramanian.

However, the talented Bear entered yesterday’s match confident that he would emerge the victor, having already knocked off Sharnov last month in the NJSIAA Team Tournament.

With a win yesterday, followed by a win in the championship match (to be held today at Mercer County Park), Subramanian could provide himself with the perfect ending to what has been a brilliant career for the Bears.

Meanwhile, the duo of Kaplan and Liu cruised through their quarterfinal match on Tuesday, knocking off Livingston’s Jason Gelman and Alexi Kavourakis, 6-3, 6-1.

That earned them a shot at Bridgewater’s David Lai and Billy Jiang yesterday, a tandem they have already beaten twice this season.

The hard-hitting Bears entered the doubles tournament as the second seed behind the top doubles pairing from Newark Academy, and were confident that, if given another shot at knocking off the top seeds, they could come through.

They appear to have peaked at the right time, and entered yesterday’s match riding a six-match winning streak.

While high school tennis is often one of the more predictable sports in terms of the outcomes of matches, anything is still possible — which is something that Subramanian, as well as the tandem of Liu and Kaplan, know quite well.

Today’s finals are set for 4 p.m.