Pennsville tennis coach gets his 300th coaching win with the Eagles girls team in a 5-0 sweep of Millville

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

MILLVILLE – Pennsville tennis coach Dan LaMont isn’t big on talking about undefeated seasons, winning streaks or personal milestone, but he hit one Wednesday that was too big to ignore.

The Pennsville girls team swept Millville 5-0 to give LaMont his 300th career coaching victory with the program. He has 333 all-time girls tennis coaching wins when you add in his 33 in three years at Schalick (1998-2000).

“It’s cool, especially having Brynn Buechler, one of my players, coaching with me now,” LaMont said of the milestone. “It’s nice as a get a little older (thinking) about all the great girls that I’ve had. Oh my gosh, it’s just been phenomenal.”

He figures he has just as many wins with the Pennsville boys, just don’t ask him the total.

“I’m not good with numbers,” he said. “We got something this year about active high school tennis coaching records and it made me kind of think of what I do have. I knew it was coming up, but it wasn’t any kind of countdown, because I’m horrible with numbers.”

Within those 300 Pennsville girls wins are two state titles, two runner-up finishes, seven sectional titles. The Eagles played in the South Jersey Group I sectional final for the tenth time on LaMont’s watch Tuesday at Pitman.

“This is a well-deserved achievement for Coach LaMont,” Pennsville athletics director Jamy Thomas said. “There are not many coaches around that put in the time and energy to high school sports as he does and his record proves that hard work truly does pay off. Hopefully he sticks around for 300 more wins.”

LaMont’s coaching tenure goes back to 1992 when he was an assistant the first time at Pennsville. His first year as the Eagles’ head coach was 2006; he was an assistant there for two different stretches beforehand. He doesn’t remember his first head coaching victory, but he does recall that first season.

“I don’t know if I remember the first win, but I do know it was the year after Donna Martin won a state title and we lost a lot from that team, but we still had a nice year,” LaMont said. 

PENNSVILLE 5, MILLVILLE 0
Megan Morris (P) def. Rebecca Lore, 6-1, 6-2
Regan Witt (P) def. Jasmine Negron, 6-1, 6-4
Lily Edwards (P) def. Ryleigh Sharretts, 6-0, 6-0
Emma Cornette-Izzy Schrenker (P) def. Isabel Kefer-Brigid Humphreys, 6-2, 6-1
Naomi Hess-Morgan Holt (P) def. Sydney Ambrose-Aria Jacquet, 6-0, 6-1
Records: Pennsville 17-1, Millville 7-14

Pitman hands Pennsville first loss of season, snapping its 22-match winning streak, in South Jersey Group I title match; Panthers win first sectional title in 18 years

NJSIAA SECTIONALS
South: Pitman 4, Pennsville 1
Central: New Providence 4, Highland Park 1
North Jersey I: Glen Rock 4, Pascack Hills 1
North Jersey II: Hanover Park 4, Glen Ridge 1
STATE FINAL FOUR
Mercer County Park, Thursday
Pairings TBA

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITMAN – The Pennsville girls tennis team loaded the bus when it was over and quickly put Shertel Park in their rearview mirror. No sense sticking around to watch someone else’s celebration at their expense.

“There was just way too much orange,” one was heard to say.

Top-seeded Pitman did something Tuesday no team has been able to do this season – find a way to put the Eagles away. It handed the Eagles their first loss of the season, snapping their 22-match winning streak, in a 4-1 victory for the South Jersey Group I championship.

The Panthers now travel up the turnpike to the State Final Four at Mercer County Park Thursday. Their semifinal opponent won’t be determined until Wednesday when the Final Four is reseeded. All four finalists won their sectional finals 4-1.

“I told the girls that wasn’t the best version of Pennsville, Pitman did not see the best version of Pennsville today,” Eagles coach Dan LaMont said. “I just felt we could have competed.

“We’re disappointed, we’re really disappointed. I told them I hope it hurts, I hope it stings, but you know what, you wake up tomorrow, the sun rises and we’ve got a match to play. We’re going to come back tomorrow, go out to Millville and we’re going to see what we can do.”

The Eagles knew the sectional final was going to be a tight match. Pitman was solid, athletic and driven and certain matches had to go their way to get the outcome they desired.

Pitman won matches at the critical No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles spots to move into position to clinch their first sectional title in 18 years. That came when No. 1 singles Anna Fisicaro closed out Megan Morris, 6-2, 6-0.

“I really thought we were up 2-0 from the beginning, no disrespect to the Pennsville girls, and we needed to find one more,” Pitman coach Gene Reid said. “That was the joke on the sideline, we need Anna to win one more game. That was a great position to be in.”

The No. 2 doubles team of Abby Heil and Jess Bretz that got things started rallied from a 3-2 deficit to win the first set, then dominated the second set, losing only a handful of points. The win was especially personal for Bretz, who was a teammate of Pennsville’s Lily Edwards and Gabi Farino on the 2023 Pennsville LL Senior Softball World Series team.

“I think the biggest thing is the bragging rights,” Bretz said, “but it feels great because we’ve been working for this for three or four years now and to finally get that championship feels amazing.”

Edwards won Pennsville’s only point, taking a straight-set victory at No. 3 singles to remain undefeated on the season. The junior has won 27 matches in a row since losing to Pitman’s Colette Rollins (Tuesday’s No. 2) in last year’s tournament.

But she conceded it was a hollow victory given the results unfolding around her.

“It means a lot, but at the same time it doesn’t because I already knew what had happened on the other courts,” she said. “It’s a weird approach to it.”

Cover photo: Pennsville’s Lily Edwards returns a shot during her No. 3 singles match against Pitman Tuesday. (Photo by Brian Tortella)

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I FINALS
PITMAN 4, PENNSVILLE 1
Anna Fisicaro (Pi) def. Megan Morris, 6-2, 6-0
Colette Rollins (Pi) def. Regan Witt, 6-2, 6-2
Lily Edwards (Pe) def. Ava Mollehhauer, 6-1, 6-0
Kendall Bennett-Amanda Bradley (Pi) def. Emma Cornette-Izzy Schrenker, 6-2, 7-5
Jessica Bretz-Abigail Heil (Pi) def. Naomi Hess-Morgan Holt, 6-4, 6-1
Records: Pennsville 16-1, Pitman 19-2

Second doubles clinches another playoff win as Pennsville tennis (15-0) edges Haddon Twp. for spot in sectional final

GIRLS TENNIS
South Jersey Group I semifinals
Pennsville 3, Haddon Twp. 2
Pitman 4, Gateway 1
Championship match
Tuesday
Pennsville at Pitman, 3 p.m.

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — Dan LaMont gathered his Pennsville girls tennis team together before sending the players out for their biggest match of the year Thursday and he could tell there was something different about them. 

The Eagles just had a certain look about them that somehow elevates the confidence their coach already had in them. 

Then they took that look to the court and took down Haddon Twp. 3-2 in the South Jersey Group I semifinals. 

The win sends them to play top-seeded Pitman Tuesday at Shertel Park in their first non-COVID sectional final since 2015, which also was the last time they won a sectional title. 

“They had a certain look in their eye today,” LaMont said. “It was just a little bit more focused. They were just a little bit more understanding of what we were here for. I could just tell in our huddle it was a little bit different … so I’ve got to get that same look on Tuesday.”

For the second round in a row, the second-seeded Eagles (15-0) got the clinching point from the newly minted second doubles team of Morgan Holt and Naomi Hess. They won in straight sets, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. They clinched the Eagles’ quarterfinal win over Schalick on Tuesday and are now 3-0 since being paired together.

The Eagles also got a point at No. 3 singles (Lily Edwards, 6-2, 6-2) and No. 1 doubles (Emma Cornette and Izzy Schrenker, 6-3. 6-2).

There were only two matches on the court at the end. Holt and Hess were up a set in their second doubles match. Regan Witt was down a set in her second singles match, but rallying in the second set to force a super tiebreaker. The race was on to see which match was going to decide it.

If Witt’s opponent held on, the match would be tied and it definitely would have come down to the new doubles team. If the doubles team won, the match would be clinched and the singles match was a pride point for the final margin.

Holt and Hess had a 5-2 lead in the first set of their match but Haddon Twp.’s Lily Steele and Olivia Fleming rallied to force a tiebreaker. The Eagles’ pair fell behind in the tiebreaker 6-4, then fought back to win five of the next six points to win the set.

“It was definitely scary,” said Holt, using her favorite word to describe the intensity. “It’s always scary. We just knew if we worked hard we had it. The first set was stressful because it didn’t need to happen – we should have had that – but winning it was really nice.”

And it put them in the best possible frame of mind for the second set, which they won easily, serving out the match at 5-3.

“Their composure is impressive,” LaMont said. “They’re handling it well. I think that’s going to serve them well as we go through.”

And while the outcome of the match was decided, Witt didn’t go out without a fight. She won the second set to force a super tiebreaker and had that tied early 3-3. Witt has been in either set or match tiebreakers in four of her last six matches and won three of them.

“Regan played tough out there,” LaMont said. “She’s grindy.”

Pennsville’s 15-0 start — it’s actually a 21-match winning streak going back to last year — matches the mid-season streak by the 2011 team that beat Pitman in the sectional final and went on to win the Group I state title. Their last loss was to Haddon Twp. 3-2 in last year’s sectional quarterfinals.

Just as LaMont saw something different in his team Thursday, he recognized something special about this team a few years back.

“I saw this team a couple years ago when I had the seniors as freshmen and I actually thought we could make a run,” LaMont said. “I’m not surprised (where they are). We put a lot of time in.

“We’re not the best tennis players. We’re not the most athletic team. But they just do some really good things.”

PENNSVILLE 3, HADDON TWP. 2
Ellie Smith (HT) def. Megan Morris, 6-1, 6-1
Kiersten Callahan (HT) def. Regan Witt, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4
Lily Edwards (P) def. Tessa Dybus, 6-2, 6-3
Emma Cornette-Izzy Schrenker (P) def. Sydney Troncone-Ani Pierwola, 6-3, 6-2
Naomi Hess-Morgan Holt (P) def. Lily Steele-Olivia Fleming, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
Records: Pennsville 15-0, Haddon Twp. 13-7.

Here are Thursday’s other sectional semifinals
Central Jersey Group I
Highland Park 3, Hoboken 2
New Providence 5, Metuchen 0
North Jersey Group 1 Section 1
Glen Rock 4, Cresskill 1
Pascack Hills 5, Pequannock 0
North Jersey Group 1 Section 2
Hanover Park 4, Verona 1
Glen Ridge 3, Madison 2

Sectional Finals
Tuesday
Pennsville (15-0) at Pitman (17-2), 3 p.m.
Glen Ridge (8-11) at Hanover Park (12-0)
New Providence (5-7) at Highland Park (8-4)
Pascack Hills (10-5) at Glen Rock (16-1)
State Finals
Mercer County Park, Oct. 17
Semifinals, 11 a.m.
Finals, 1 p.m.