Even after two decades of sectional championship dominance, the Haddonfield boys tennis team never overlooks any part of the journey each and every year.
Continuing a longstanding streak, top seeded and host Haddonfield defeated second seeded Cumberland, 5-0 in the South Jersey Group 2 championship.
Haddonfield (19-8) has now won 20 consecutive sectional titles. The Bulldogs will compete in Wednesday’s 11 a.m. state Group 2 semifinal against Rumson-Fair Haven at Mercer County Park. The winner will advance later that day to the state final.
“We’re just so grateful to be here and we don’t take any of this for granted,” said senior Jack Gilmore, who has been Haddonfield’s No. 1 singles player each of the past two years. “We really love the challenge and have played some of the best teams in South Jersey.”
The formula each year for Haddonfield rarely varies. Legendary coach Jeff Holman, who has guided the boys teams since 1978 and has well over 2,,000 career victories as a boys and girls tennis coach, has the Bulldogs play what is annually one of South Jersey’s toughest schedules.
That minefield of a schedule had the Bulldogs taking their lumps this season, at one point losing six of seven matches.
Since losing a 4-1 decision to perennial South Jersey power Moorestown on April 25, Haddonfield has won 13 in a row.
“After we went on that stretch of losing six of seven to elite teams, I look at how much our team has improved and that is probably the most gratifying part, more so than the number of years winning these titles,” Holman said.
Holman likes to think that even though the streak is 20 years, he looks at each team as its own individual group. Yet, there is no doubt that there is pressure on the players, not put on by the coach, but just by the enormity of the streak.
“I just didn’t want to mess it up for the seniors,” said Haddonfield sophomore No. 2 singles player Chase Degillio, who won his match 6-3, 6-4 and is now 24-11. “I just want to continue the tradition.”
While the team score was 5-0, it didn’t show how well Cumberland (23-2) battled in many matches. Take No. 1 singles for example.
After Haddonfield’s Gilmore won the first set 6-3, Cumberland junior Sam Falk won the second, 6-4. Since Haddonfield had clinched the match at the time, the two then played a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set. Gilmore won that 10-5.
“He has grown a lot since his freshman year both technically and mentally,” said Cumberland coach Bill Kennedy about Falk. “He keeps himself in matches and figures it out and I was super proud of him today.”
Even though sophomore Luke Fisher lost in straight sets to Degillio at No. 2 singles, he also showed plenty of grit, limping his way through the match.
“He pulled his hamstring and then his quad and he was playing on bum legs out there and he really battled,” Kennedy said.
The veteran Cumberland coach, while understanding the Colts’ underdog status, entered the match with an aggressive mindset.
“”We came here positive and we came here with a good outlook on things,” said Kennedy, whose team lost 5-0 to Haddonfield in the 2021 sectional final. “We knew they were a classy team, a very good team, and I told them ‘go bigger or go home’ and if you are hitting like that and missing, I am fine with that.”
Haddonfield senior Matt Murschell was a 6-2, 6-0 winner at No. 3 singles.
The Bulldogs first doubles team of sophomore Asher Fred and junior Daniel Plum won 6-2, 6-3, while freshman Aaron Keith and senior Jack Carr won 6-0, 6-0 in second doubles.
Anybody who knows Holman, realizes he would rather stay out of the spotlight, but his dedication to his team and his longstanding success has left a lasting impression on decades of Haddonfield tennis players.
“Before every match we say ‘do it for coach,’” said Gilmore, who is now 26-10 at first singles. “He works really, really hard every single day and we are really grateful for him.”
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