Boys' Tennis Wins 15th Straight State Championship

The Newark Academy boys’ tennis team beat Christian Brothers Academy on Thursday, June 4, to bring home their 15th consecutive NJSIAA Non-Public State Championship title and the 32nd in program history. 

The Minutemen received the #1 ranking in the Non-Public North Sectional bracket and a bye in the first round. On May 26, in the second round, they blanked #8 Morristown Beard 5-0. It was onto the semifinals and Newark Academy faced #4 Bergen Catholic, shutting them out to advance to the Non-Public North Sectional final. On the opposite side of the bracket, #3 Pingry cruised to the finals, including a 5-0 upset over #2 Delbarton in the semis. It was a battle, but Newark Academy came out on top 3-2 to win the Non-Public North title.

The Minutemen then advanced to the Non-Public State final on June 4 at Mercer County Park. They faced the winner of the Non-Public South Sectional Final, Christian Brothers Academy (CBA). It was #1 of the north against #1 of the south. Newark Academy has seen this all before, with returners and newcomers alike in their lineup. The Minutemen cruised to a 4-1 win to secure the title. Kaan Ozsahin ’27 and Aadit Shrivastava ’26 wasted no time, notching the first point for the Minutemen at second doubles. Shortly after, first doubles pair, Caden Millerman ’28 and Aryan Grover ’26 secured the team’s second point. Daniel Zhou ’28 stepped up at third singles, sealing the deal for the Minutemen bringing the score to 3-0. Nolan Sharma ’28 helped make the victory decisive, winning at second singles. Andrew Zielinski ’27 battled at first singles, but came up just short, losing in a tiebreak and giving CBA their singular point of the afternoon. 

This season, the Minutemen only dropped two matches. One to West Windsor Plainsboro-South (3-2), at the Bryan Bennett Memorial Tournament hosted by Delbarton and one to Millburn during the regular season (3-2). Newark Academy finished the season with a 28-2 record, the Essex County championship title, the Super Essex Conference American Division title, the Newark Academy Tennis Invitational trophy, the NJSIAA Non-Public North Sectional Championship and the NJSIAA Non-Public State Championship. 

Newark Academy still has Andrew Zielinski, Nolan Sharma and Daniel Zhou competing in the NJSIAA State Singles Tournament, which started on Saturday, May 30 at Mercer County Park. All three have stayed afloat and have advanced to the quarterfinals, being held at Princeton University on Saturday, June 6. If they win both the quarters and semis on Saturday, they advance to the finals, being held on Sunday.