Kocovic advances to tennis semifinals

Lenape senior Nikola Kocovic has reached the semifinals of the state singles tennis tournament.

Kocovic improved to 36-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Chatham's Quintin Monaghan in the quarterfinals Tuesday at Mercer County Park.

"Nik looked very strong and workmanlike," Lenape coach Tony Guerrera said. "He's very focused."

Kocovic, the No. 2 seed, will face Ramapo's Jonathan Carcione in Wednesday's semifinals. Carcione, seeded 9-16, upset No. 3 seed Dan Shutov of Dwight-Englewood, 6-2, 6-0, in Tuesday's quarterfinals.

The other semifinal will feature top-seeded Mike Lippens of Shore Regional vs. No. 4 seed Thomas Caputo of Livingston. The finals will be Thursday.

Kocovic lost in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Mike Lampa of Ocean Township. That was Kocovic's only loss of the last two seasons.

In doubles play, Moorestown's team of Mike Schwartz and Matt Holzinger was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Montgomery's Shehab Saad and Nate Seto, 6-2, 6-3.

Schwartz, a senior, and Holzinger, a junior, finished with a 30-4 record.