TCNJ Women’s Tennis is Flawless in the NJAC.
By: Mark Barroso
EWING—The College of New Jersey women’s tennis team has done one single thing in every league match that they have played: win.
The Lions have won 28 consecutive New Jersey Athletic Conference women’s tennis championships, and do not plan on stopping there.
Head coach Scott Dicheck’s expectations for the spring are “to make it back into the NCAA Tournament and back into the top 10 nationally. We’re always going to have a shot at it.”
The Lions have won 136 straight league matches, which is 28 seasons in 29 years, under three different head coaches.
Dicheck, who is in his 11th year of service, leads a team that is currently 54-0 in league play.
“It’s obviously one of our goals to continue the streak (regular season),” said Dicheck. “There are no off-weeks or easy weeks, just getting better.”
Winning has become a necessary custom of the TCNJ women’s tennis program.
Brenda Cambell started as the Lions’ head coach when women’s tennis was introduced as a Conference sport in the fall of 1982. She compiled a record of 68-0 in NJAC play and retired in 1995.
From 1995-2000, Tricia Udicious was head coach and led the Lions to a 14-0 record.
Dicheck was named NJAC Coach of the Year in 2010, 2009 and 2006. In 2007, he was a co-NJAC Coach of the Year in 2007 and USTA New Jersey Coach of the Year.
Dicheck has coached 15 combined National Collegiate Athletic Association and Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-Americans and one ITA National Champion: Jackie Shtemberg.
Cambell and the people who helped establish women’s tennis in 1982 have seen the program surpass its conference in athletic ability.
A rebuttal to the success of the TCNJ women’s tennis program is the notion that the NJAC is not good enough for them. No other NJAC team has dominated women’s tennis like TCNJ.
“There is really no competition in the NJAC,” said sophomore Lauren Balsamo. “We play strong, non-NJAC teams in the spring.”
The Lions admit to the fact that their regular season wins have come in a so called “not that good” conference.
“The other teams in the NJAC are not that good,” said sophomore Allison Tierney. “I would like to play in a conference where the teams are better.”
The current TCNJ roster consists of three freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors, and no seniors.
“Last year’s team and this year’s team are the two strongest teams I have seen in my 11 years here,” said Dicheck.
The 2010 team went 60-11 in singles competition and 33-4 in doubles competition. The Lions won every league match this season 9-0.
The team leader in singles competition was 2010 NJAC Player of the Year Karisse Bendijo with a record of 14-2. The team leaders in doubles competition were Bendijo and Tierney with a record of 14-1.
The All-NJAC honors that many TCNJ have repeatedly received don’t mean too much if the players excelled in a conference they were supposed to do extremely well in anyway.
“The NJAC consists of five matches that aren’t a main part of our season,” said Dicheck. “It matters what you do in the NCAA Tournament.”
Since the Lions have held such a high standard in the NJAC, they repeatedly get predicted as number one in the conference.
There are two lengthy streaks on the line literally every time the Lions step on the court against NJAC competition.
“We don’t feel any extra pressure,” said Dicheck of keeping the 136-match streak alive. “It helps we play early, but regionals and nationals have added more pressure to us in the past.”
Dicheck has proven to be a successful coach on a team that is definitely not used to losing. It simply has not been an option.
Contact: barroso2@tcnj.edu
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