Pham's Marathon Helps East Tennis to Victory [Photos]

With three points and the team victory already in hand, Cherry Hill East’s Rachel Pham turned her second singles match into a marathon, outlasting Shawnee’s Vienna Cordier in a third set that went 18 games as the Cougars moved on in the Group 4 playoffs with the 4-1 win.

The match was already clinched, thanks to Gabrielle Zimmerman’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Colby Schweibenz, when Pham and Codier went into a second-set tiebreak, which kept Pham in the match.

The two players kept grinding it out well beyond that, with Pham eventually holding on for a 10-8 third-set victory to give the Cougars their fourth point of the match.

East also got victories from Allyson Wolf, who beat Caleigh Masterman, 6-3, 6-0, and the second doubles team of Adel Boyarsky and Sarah Jang, who beat Narelle Kipple and Anna Murphy, 6-2, 6-3.

Shawnee’s lone point came at first singles, where Gabrielle DiBattista and Allison Jones beat East’s Kristina Klinisova and Lauren Romisher, 6-3, 6-4.

The No. 2-seeded Cougars now move on to the South Jersey, Group 4 semifinals against No. 3 seed Toms River North Thursday afternoon.