By Rich Fisher | Correspondent 

Eric Biscoveanu didn’t expect much when he returned for his senior season with the Notre Dame High School tennis team.

“To be honest, at the beginning of this season I wasn’t really hopeful it would happen,” Biscoveanu said in reference to the Irish repeating as New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association South Jersey Non-Public A champions. “We had lost three of four doubles and also our third singles player. Options-wise on the team, we weren’t looking too good.”

Those options changed over the course of the season and Coach Greg Schafer’s team began to figure things out. The Irish finished 13-9, repeated as South Jersey champion on May 23, and dropped a thrilling, 3-2, decision to state power Delbarton in the Non-Public A championship round May 25.

SEE A PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE ND vs. CBA MATCH, HERE.

Of Notre Dame’s nine losses, six were by 3-2 scores, and six came to perennial Mercer County kingpins West Windsor-Plainsboro North, West Windsor-Plainsboro South and Princeton. Another came at the hands of a dominating Westfield program.

Biscoveanu, who will play for Temple University next year, feels the key to the season was the emergence of senior third singles player Alex Wang and the first doubles team of seniors Matt DeMaria and Ashwin Suvarna.

“Throughout the season, our first doubles were a good team, and they knew they were a good team,” Biscoveanu said. “Toward the end of the season, through playing together and practicing together they got a lot of confidence. I worked with them, Mr. Schafer worked with them. Everything we did as a team helped them gel together and play the way they needed to, to get to where we got.”  

 The same could be said for Suvarna, who came into his own this season.

“By the time we got to play CBA and Delbarton, he was turning into a heck of a singles player,” Biscoveanu said. “He never really played matches before. He was a person you could go hit with and play tennis. But the way he could play tennis and excel that quickly I was really happy with it. 

“As the season progressed the hopes started getting higher and higher. We were putting pressure on teams like Princeton and West Windsor. I think the further we got into the season the more we realized we could do some things, and they were the ones who pulled it out for us.”

Also contributing were senior second singles player Joey Sison and the second doubles team of junior Nick Ramirez and senior Matt Wroblewski.

In the CBA match, Biscoveanu opened with a win before the Colts took the next two matches for a 2-1 lead. Sison claimed a two-set win to tie it, and DeMaria-Suvarna won a hard-fought, 7-5, 7-5, battle to clinch.

“That was 5-5 in the second set and they fought hard to win it,” Biscoveanu said.

It was the second straight season the Irish of Lawrenceville defeated CBA for the title. It also brought up a rematch with Delbarton, which resulted in a second straight 3-2 defeat in the state finals.

Sison and Wang took singles wins and Delbarton swept the doubles, leaving it up to Biscoveanu. After winning the first set against Justin Wang, 6-2, he dropped the second, 7-5, and the third, 6-3.

“The third set was good play by Justin and a little body cramping on my part,” Eric said. “I wasn’t running out of gas. After I cramped I still went out and fought as hard as I could. I probably came out of the gates a little stronger than he did at the beginning. I used a lot more energy than he did. I think he realized the first set was a little out of his reach so he saved himself for the next two.

“It was really frustrating as a co-captain (with Sison), and this being our senior year. I’m first singles and a leader on the team, everybody was looking up to me and it crushed me not to be able to come through.”

It was because he came through so many other times, however, that the Irish can call themselves two-time South Jersey champions. Biscoveanu played first singles all four years at ND. He finished third in the Mercer County Tournament this year and was second as a sophomore.

He still has the NJSIAA state singles tournament this weekend and is seeded ninth among 64 players

“I definitely want to go as far as I can,” he said. “I got to the third round last year before I lost to the eventual champion. I was disappointed because I didn’t win but definitely happy with the way I played.

“That’s all that matters. If you’re happy with how you played, and with the effort you gave and the thought you put into the match, there’s nothing else you could have done. As long as I play well and leave everything out on the court, I’m happy.”

The resident of Yardley, Pa., will take that attitude with him to nearby North Philadelphia next year as he has received a partial scholarship to play for an Owls team that went 20-5 this season. Temple graduates several starters so there will be spots open.

“Talking to their coach, visiting the campus and talking to academic advisors and seeing the help they can provide, it showed me it’s definitely possible to play a Division I sport and still focus on the academics,” Biscoveanu said. “Sometimes I hear that you can play at a place like Duke and get lost because of the training and travel schedule. Temple did a good job of keeping me interested in both.

“I’m real excited to go in there with a bunch of new guys and some of the older guys who will still be there, who can help me learn to get better and improve. That’s what tennis is all about.”