Girls' Tennis Wins Third Consecutive County Championship

Newark Academy girls’ tennis won its third consecutive Essex County Tournament (ECT) title on Saturday, September 19, over the Millburn Millers, 4-1. The Minutemen earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament, putting them up against No. 16 Belleville in the first round. Newark Academy came out with a 5-0 win and advanced to the quarterfinals, blanking No. 8 West Orange later that afternoon. 

With the win over West Orange, the Minutemen advanced to the semifinals on Saturday, September 19, where they routed No. 5 Montclair to advance to the final round. On the opposite side of the bracket, No. 2 Millburn bested every opponent through all three rounds, including No. 3 Columbia in the semifinal (4-1), to advance to the championship round.

The final round was played later that day between the Newark Academy Minutemen and the Millburn Millers. The Minutemen came out firing on all cylinders, starting with a commanding win from first doubles pair of Yuxi Zhang ’27 and Sophie Yao ’29. Lily Schonbraun ’27 notched the second win at third singles, while Leala Kramer ’29 secured the win at first singles and Alvita Lingamaneni ’28 finished the job at second singles. Newark Academy’s second doubles pair of Tara Zielinski ’29 and Anagha Mahesh ’30, came up just short to the Millers, dropping the only point of the day for the Minutemen. 

This was Newark Academy's third consecutive ECT win, the 12th in program history and the third-straight time Millburn was their runner-up. The last time the Minutemen dropped a match to Millburn was on October 1, 2023 in the ECT semifinals. 

Newark Academy remains unbeaten with a 11-0 record and will return to regular-season play on Tuesday, September 22, hosting Millburn again, this time for Super Essex Conference play.