2000 Girls Tennis Team
The 2000 Girls Tennis Team captured the first Group, State Championship in Glen Rock High School history and was named Bergen County’s Girls Tennis Team of the Year.
After Title Nine ushered in girls’ sports in June of 1972, it did not take long for the Glen Rock girls tennis program (led by Hall of Fame Head Coach Harry Comiskey) to become successful.
In the years before the fall of 2000, Glen Rock had won two Group Bergen County Championships and eight Group Sectional Championships and had been the runner-up in the 1981 Group 1, State Championship. The Panthers were League Champions almost every year in that stretch.
In 2000, the girls tennis team had the most successful season in school history. The team did not drop a point as it won the Groups 1 & 2, Bergen County Team Championship and the B-PSL Carpenter Championship. After winning the Group 1, Sectional Championship, it defeated Mountain Lakes 3-2 in the semifinal match and then Pitman 3-2 in the final match to win the Group 1, State Championship. The team’s final record was 20-1, with its first and only loss being in the subsequent Tournament of Champions to a much larger school. For the team’s achievements, The Record named Glen Rock the Bergen County Team of the Year and named Coach Harry Comiskey Coach of the Year.
The team was led by Hall of Fame inductee, sophomore Gabby Pasternak, who was in the midst of an extraordinary four years as Glen Rock’s #1 singles player during which she never lost a match against North Jersey competition. In that year, she won the second of four consecutive Groups 1 & 2, Bergen County Individual Championships and was undefeated until she lost in the semifinals of the All Group, Individual State Tournament to the ultimate State Champion. Junior Liz Saydah was the team’s #2 singles player and sophomore Aileen Sobaru was its #3 singles player. Junior Karen Dilsizian and sophomore Alyssa Rosenbluth and junior Elizabeth Lang and sophomore Kristin Robbins were the team’s #1 and #2 doubles teams. Karen and Alyssa finished second in the Groups 1 & 2, Bergen County Doubles Tournament.
With all seven starters returning from the 2000 team, the 2001 team met all expectations and repeated the prior year’s accomplishments. It did not drop a point as it won the Groups 1 & 2, Bergen County Team Championship and the B-PSL Divisional Championship. After winning the Group 1, Sectional Championship, it defeated Gateway 3-2 and then Mountain Lakes 4-1 to repeat as Group 1, State Champions. Once again, the team’s first and only loss was in the subsequent Tournament of Champions to a much larger school and The Record named Glen Rock the Bergen County Team of the Year and named Coach Harry Comiskey Coach of the Year.
“The year 2000 was the best of times…we won everything”
Coach Harry Comiskey
Coach – Harry Comiskey
Karen Dilsizian
Elizabeth Lang
Kate Miller
Gabby Pasternak
Kristin Robbins
Alyssa Rosenbluth
Liz Saydah
Aileen Sobaru
Makiko Suzuki
Meghan Tozzi