Montclair Boys Tennis would like to wrap things up

One team has thwarted the Montclair boys tennis teams' goal of winning a state championship over the past few seasons.

Bergen Tech has crushed Mounties dreams of capturing a North 1 Group 4 championship in the state sectional finals the past three seasons. But a new season begins forever.

And Montclair hopes 2024 will feel like 2019, the last time the Mounties defeated Bergen Tech as they brought home the North 1 Group 4 championship that year.

State Sectional A Goal

Montclair head coach Guy Rabner said while the ultimate goal is another state title, challenging other teams is the first goal, starting with Saturday's Essex County Tournament semifinal against Newark Academy (10:30 a.m. at Branch Brook Park in Newark). The Mounties are the fourth seed against the top-seeded Minutemen who are considered one of the top teams in the state.

“The goal is to compete well in every meet, hopefully win some of them and win the state sectional,” Rabner said.

In addition to playing in the state's toughest division, the Super Essex Conference American, Montclair also initially had Hillsborough, who are ranked in the state's top 10, on their schedule, where the Mounties lost 3-2.

“The team has been competitive and played solid,” Rabner said of the 4-3 start this season. were also one point away from beating Hillsborough, the state number seven, and competed well against MKA, also a top 10 team. The doubles are playing well and still have to adapt to the matches.”

Last season, Montclair finished with a 12-11 record as they lost 4-1 to Bergen Tech in the state championship game.

Players to watch

Leading the way again this season is senior singles Tylan Ozkuzey, who was named to the All New Jersey third team last season, where he also reached the individual state semifinals last June.

“Tylan, Tylan, Tylan.” Rabner said of Ozkuzey, who was 17-5 last season and is 7-0 so far in 2024. “His play and experience will lead us this year. He is undefeated, has beaten some excellent players and leads by example.”

Like Ozkuzey, Montclair has plenty of experience with several seniors, including Trent Tauber, Max Goffin, Max Korenbaum, Teddy Ogden and Matthew Vincenti, on the field most of the time.

“We have six seniors starting, so we have a lot of experience,” the Montclair head coach added. “Hopefully this will lead us to some close wins.”

One of those narrow wins came in the quarterfinals of the Essex County Tournament. The Mounties rebounded to a 3-2 win over Livingston on April 16, just one day after Montclair dropped a 4-1 decision to the Lancers in an SEC American Division regular season game. “The kids wanted to avenge their loss on Monday and were very motivated,” Rabner said.

What made the difference

The difference for the Mounties in the county tournament against Livingston and the regular season match was the doubles match going to Montclair to win the ECT quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, the Mounties' first doubles team of Korenbaum and Ogden flipped the script on Livingston's Jake Hershkin and Arjun Bansal. While the Lancers duo won in three sets in the regular competition match, the Korenbaum-Ogden duo recovered excellently. But it took a set to get going. The Mounties first doubles lost the first set 7-5 in the quarterfinals, but won the second set in dominant style 6-1. And the Korenbaum-Ogden duo won the tiebreak 10-8. The freshman duo of Alfred Lonntorp and Jack Levine also won the second doubles match in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2.

Together with Ozkuzey, Tauber is the best other player this season. He was named to the All-SEC American honorable mention list. Tauber has moved up to second singles full-time this season, replacing graduate Rainen Solomon. “I think the biggest improvement he has made is his experience. Not exactly an improvement, but the game is quite comparable to last year. He fought well against some strong players.”

Expectations and challenges

Along with Ozkuzey and Tauber, there were high expectations for the Mounties first doubles team of Korenbaum and Ogden. Like Ozkuzey, the Montclair pair entered this spring after a strong performance in the individual state tournament. Korenbaum and Ogden reached the third round of the doubles tournament in the individual state competition.

One of the biggest challenges for doubles coaches is to get a pair for both first and second doubles. Having the Korenbaum-Ogden duo is a definite plus this season and the score is 5-2 in the first doubles match, with one of the losses coming via a tiebreak.

With Tauber moving up to second singles, Goffin won the team's third singles competition. “He has great skills and has learned to win a little more,” Rabner said. “Excellent fundamentals. He's played well against some good players, but hasn't won a big game yet.”

Seniors dominate Montclair's boys tennis landscape this spring. But freshman Alfred Lonntorp was a mainstay at second doubles for most of the season. “He has a great game and is a great competitor,” Rabner said. “He has a lot of strength, skills and an enormous passion that is contagious. There is a lot of room for growth in his game.”

Other Montclair tennis players seeing particular time in second doubles are Vincenti, freshman Jack Levine, junior Theodore Sedarat, junior Ben Hornstein and senior Matthew Hymowitz.

Montclair Boys Tennis Schedule
(Games at 4:00 PM unless otherwise stated)

April 20 Newark Academy, ECT semi-finals, 10:30 am
April 22 at Seton Hall Prep
April 24Glen Ridge
April 29 at Millburn
April 30 Westveld
May 1 and MKA
May 3 Millburn
May 6 West Essex
May 8 in Columbia
May 14 Delbarton
May 15 Tenafly
May 16 West Orange
May 21 at Newark Academy

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