Phil Anastasia: Moorestown falls to tennis archrival

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - Millburn brings out the best in Moorestown.

Unfortunately for the Quakers, the reverse is true, too.

The Millers are "like the North Jersey Moorestown," said John Pontillo, who stars at first doubles for the real Moorestown tennis team.

The archrivals met yesterday morning in the Group 3 state semifinals at Mercer County Park. As usual, it was a taut, tense match. As usual, it ended in a 3-2 score.

The twist from previous years was that Millburn emerged with the victory, clinching the match on Robert Xie's 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Brandon Greenwood in a terrific third-singles battle that had dozens of fans from both teams surrounding the court and cheering every point.

"That's by far the best Brandon has played this year," Moorestown coach Bill Kingston said.

It's always this way when these teams get together. Moorestown beat Millburn in the 2007 and 2008 state finals. Both times, the score was 3-2.

The Millers beat the Quakers at the Delbarton Tournament in mid-April. The score was 3-2.

"They were waiting for us," Kingston said. "We were waiting for them, too."

It was a great team match. The teams split in spirited, high-level competition at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Both doubles matches went to three sets, as did Greenwood's entertaining clash with Xie.

"Our guys fought," Kingston said. "It was a valiant effort."

Pontillo, a senior, and Michael Bass, a junior, raised their record to 36-0 with a hard-fought victory over David Kraus and Nishant Mishra.

Pontillo and Bass know all about Millburn. Both were members of the Quakers' soccer team, which lost to the Millers, 3-0, in the state finals in November.

"They are always the team," Pontillo said. "They are just like us. They are always in the finals, always in the group or sectional finals. They've got such a great athletic program."

Bass said the Quakers knew from the first practice in March that the season would reach its peak on this day, at this site, against this opponent.

"From day one, we knew Millburn would be here waiting for us," Bass said.

In the afternoon, Millburn won the state title with a 4-1 victory over Ramapo. It was great for the Millers. It also was a little anticlimactic, since they made their day with a victory over their archrivals in the morning.

Since 2003, either Millburn or Moorestown has won the Group 3 state title. After yesterday, Millburn had a 4-3 edge.

See, it's not always 3-2.

But it's always the Quakers or the Millers.

"Today was their day," Kingston said. "They just played a little bit better."