PHOTOS: Middle girls tennis team handling promotion, difficult schedule with proficiency

Posted: October 5th 2024

Senior Brenna Bussinger is the first singles player for a Middle Township girls tennis team that is enjoying a fine season this fall.

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

The Middle Township High School girls tennis team was a co-champion of the Cape-Atlantic National Conference over each of the last two seasons.

The team’s reward?

A promotion to the league’s American Conference, widely regarded as the most competitive.

It can be a difficult place to navigate for any team, especially one that comes from a Group II school.

Middle, however, has handled it just fine so far this fall.

Friday’s 4-1 non-league win over Delsea improved Middle to a very solid 10-6 overall. The team is 2-6 in conference matches but has been competitive in many of the defeats. The Lady Panthers also picked up a 3-2 conference win over Mainland recently that represented the program’s first win over the Mustangs in at least 15 years. They also defeated rival Lower Cape May, which currently leads the CAL National Conference.

Middle is currently on a four-match win streak heading into Monday’s match against Ocean City.

“We’ve moved up to the top conference in the CAL and we knew it would be a challenging season but we were excited for it because we felt we were ready for it,” Middle coach Jeanne Donohue said. “We’re kind of a seasoned team. We had done a lot in that middle (National) Conference, so we were excited to move up. We figured we’d be playing very, very good teams and we were hoping to win a couple matches. We maybe didn’t expect to compete the way we have. But we knew this conference was going to get us battle tested and ready for the state tournament.”

Middle features a relatively young lineup, with just three seniors among the varsity players. The first through third singles players include, respectively, senior Brenna Bussinger, junior Maria Sakoulas and sophomore Ella Leahy. The first doubles team consists of senior Fiona Gale and junior Ava Hope and the second doubles team is made up of senior Ava Rusko and sophomore Lyndsey McDevitt. Freshman Morgan Sharpe has also seen some varsity action at doubles.

Middle began South Jersey Group II Tournament play last week. The third-seeded Lady Panthers knocked off No. 14 Collingswood, 5-0, and will next face No. 6 Sterling at home on Tuesday. A win over Sterling would give Middle a sectional semifinal match against No. 10 Barnegat or No. 2 Oakcrest.

If they play to their potential, it’s not out of the question that the Lady Panthers could reach the final.

“We’ve advanced one round (each of) the last two years and we’re not satisfied with that,” Donohue said. “We’re hoping to advance a little further this year. We got a good seed. When you look into the constant toughness of our schedule, we expect to be competitive in the playoffs.”

Middle competed in Group I for the state tournament over the past few seasons and now is back in Group II.

“For us to change conferences and groups, it’s been a really good season,” Donohue said. “We knew it would be challenging. The goal was to just get better every match. We’re very happy with the way the girls have been working. Everything’s been positive. The girls are getting better every match.”

Donohue credited her assistant coach, John Leahy, for bringing a winning attitude to the program. Leahy has been a longtime successful girls basketball coach and has been an assistant coach with the consistently good boys tennis program for quite a few seasons as well.

“With his experience and success as a coach, he brings a lot of intangibles to the program,” Donohue said. “He’s helped the girls buy into the mentality that tennis can be a very serious sport at our school. Yes, we’re here to have fun. But we’re also here to get better and compete.”

The move to the American Conference has also helped the program’s development of the non-varsity players. In most matches, opponents also have many extra players, meaning the non-varsity players get the chance to compete.

“We have 24 girls on the team so we’re very happy with the depth we have,” Donohue said. “Everyone is still very committed. One of the benefits of moving up to the bigger conference and playing bigger teams is that there are a lot of JV opportunities. A lot of the girls are getting to play and that’s a good way to keep them involved and engaged. We’re going to need a lot of them going forward.”