The Cinnaminson High School (CHS) Girls’ tennis team eclipsed last season’s 15-2 record with another awesome season, ending the season with a record of 16-2.

Nearly half of the games they defeated the opposing team 5-0 and for the second year in a row, they won the Burlington County Scholastic League Freedom Division championship with an undefeated division record. The only larger school BCSL team that managed to win against them was Northern Burlington.

Second singles and team captain, senior Juliana Sorbello, had a lot to say about her wins and achievements.

After asking Juliana what team was the hardest to beat, she quickly knew what team it was.

“Palmyra was definitely the hardest since we were very evenly matched, as far as skill levels go. It went on for two hours,” Sorbello said. 

The CHS-Palmyra match was rained out in early September and was rescheduled for October 12 with the rematch set to take place a week later.  Sorbello was right as CHS won first and second singles in each of the Palmyra matches and would win the second doubles matches to win each match, 3-2.

Junior  Emma Trzaska moved from a dominant season at third singles to first singles in 2017 and was a leader for CHS, winning 10 of her 17 dual matches for the Pirates.  Sorbello moved up from first doubles where she was 14-2 last year and slotted herself into second singles and was 13-4 in dual matches this year to set up a strong 1-2 combination for the Pirates.  Junior Madison Fiegel was Sorbello’s partner at first doubles last year and slotted in at third singles and had an outstanding campaign with a 15-3 dual match record.

When asked what achievement in the season Sorbello was most proud of this year, she brought up her match against her good friend Fiegel in order to get a spot on varsity.

“We had a match to see our rank in singles. We played each other twice and each time it was really challenging. It was really close and could have been anyone’s game,” Sorbello said.

For the second year in a row, CHS was so dominant against the smaller schools in Freedom Division and has compiled a 31-4 record in two years in dual matches under the leadership of head coach Matt Perekupka.

Sorbello personally thanked her coach, Matthew Perekupka, for his strong coaching abilities and all he does as the team’s leader.

“He’s a great coach and provides a comfortable atmosphere for all 32 players. He makes sure we work hard but also have fun doing it. He feels more like a friend than a coach since he cares about our problems: personal, school, work, it doesn’t matter,” she finished.

With Trzaska and Fiegel returning next year and first doubles junior Erin Lonergan returning for next year, the team is well-suited to make another run in 2018 as it will search to return its dominance to the BCSL Freedom division, but also to get out of the second round of the sectional playoffs for the first time in four years.