The Pascack Valley Girls Tennis Team’s season is well underway. The team has played four matches so far this season. Although the team is off to a 1-3 start, first singles player, Brianna Ruback, has been extremely dominant, she has played in the varsity first singles spot since her freshman year.

“I take each point one at a time,” said Ruback.

Her focus on winning each point is why the first singles portion of each match has gone PV’s way. Ruback controlled both of her matches against Pascack Hills and Old Tappan.

Against PH, she didn’t lose a game, winning her two sets in straight sets (6-0, 6-0). While against Old Tappan, Ruback only lost four games total, and again won in straight sets (6-3, 6-1).

In her other two matches, against Bergenfield and Tenafly, Ruback did not win in straight sets and was forced to play into the third set.

“A third set is very fatiguing,” explained Ruback.

After losing the first set 4-6 against Bergenfield, she knew that she would have win two sets consecutively. Not only did Ruback win two sets in a row, but she didn’t lose a game for the rest of the match. She finished off her opponent in the last two sets 6-0, 6-0.

The second match that took Ruback to a third set was against Tenafly. This match may be Ruback’s longest of the season. The third went to a tiebreaker and lasted for 15 points. Fortunately, Ruback was the winner of ten of those games, which also gave her the win in the match. The final score of her match was 7-5, 5-7, 10-5.

“I was ready to take on the third set,” described Ruback, regarding her matches against Bergenfield and Tenafly.

The match against Bergenfield also resulted in a win for the team. Third singles player, Grace Cho and first doubles duo, Lauren Dentato and Elizabeth Parisi, both won in straight sets. Second doubles duo, Holly Aloi and Stephanie Perini also won their match. The overall score of the match was 4-1.

Noelle Garbaccio and Jess Ruback have also played well on the varsity team at the singles positions. Jess Ruback won her match against Pascack Hills in three sets.

The team will look to move back towards .500 this week in matches against Demarest, Teaneck, and Westwood.

Brianna Ruback will also look to stay unbeaten, but will face a huge test in her match against Demarest. Demarest first singles player, Alina Chow, was named to the Bergen Record’s Preseason “Players to Watch” list, along with Ruback.

“I have to be patient, move her (my opponent) around, and focus on my footwork,” said Ruback of her game, “I have to stay focused on what I can improve.”

This Week: The tennis team is up for a busy week as the girls are playing in three matches. Today they will travel to Demarest to face the Norsewomen at 4:15 p.m., then again on Thursday the team hosts Teaneck on the beautiful new courts at 4:15 p.m., and to round out the week the Indians host the Cardinals of Westwood at 4:15 p.m.