Shore Regional High School girls tennis coach Michele Gruskos fully expected her team to be competitive with Manasquan in the Central Jersey Group II final on Thursday at Red Bank Regional.

After all, Gruskos was familiar with the Blue Warriors, having watched her team's run at a state sectional come to an end at the hands of Manasquan a year ago.

She also had kept her eyes on the Warrior's results throughout the season, noting how their scores nearly mirrored the scores her team had posted against the same opponents.

It all led up to a sense of confidence that the eighth-year head coach at Shore was happy to share with her girls prior to the match.

"I felt we had a good shot at winning the section when the season began," the coach said. "We've got four good seniors who have been playing varsity since they were freshmen, and two others who joined the varsity as sophomores.

"I've got good talent and good depth on this team."

And it was that talent and depth that brought the Blue Devils to the state sectional final once again.

"As the season progressed, I noticed that our scores against the teams that Manasquan was playing were very similar, Gruskos said. "I told the girls that whatever team wanted it the most was going to win this one.

"Going in, I felt we had a definite edge at second and third singles, and that we would need one of our doubles teams to pick up a win if we were to beat them," the coach added. "But when Nicole won, that changed everything."

Nicole is senior Nicole Lippens, Shore's steady No. 1 singles player who stepped up and played her biggest match of the year to defeatManasquan's ace, Farrah Smoke, 6-3, 6-4.

"Nicole was the key, without a doubt," Gruskos said. "She went out there strong, and played very well against a very good player."

The win, according to Gruskos, was even sweeter considering some unexpected struggles for Lippens this year.

"She hasn't played poorly by any means, but she just hasn't had the best year," the coach said. "She got beat by a very good girl from Red Bank Catholic twice, and also got beat by a sophomore that she beat last year.

But she really wanted this win, not just for herself, but to be able to help her team get a win and a state championship. I knew she had a shot, and she came out and played a very smart match."

Not the power hitter that Smoke is, Lippens (now 15-6 on the year) had to resort to some gamesmanship to post the win.

"Farrah was making some mistakes early on and never seemed to get on her game," Gruskos said. "And Nicole kept her out of her rhythm by hitting a lot of slices and changing the pace.

"This was definitely the highlight of her season thus far."

After Lippens walked off the court, everything fell into place for the Blue

Devils, as after Lippens' victory, Taylor Reinhard scored another point at second singles as she defeated Manasquan's Laura, Turner 6-1, 6-2. Shore's Rebecca Granet then gave the Blue Devils the clinching point with her victory at third singles over Paige Foley 6-0,6-1.

"Having them come off in that order, with Nicole winning, followed by Taylor and Rebecca was really something special," Gruskos said. "After Nicole won, everyone was on their feet and cheering the rest of the way. It was great."

The Warriors (13-6) managed to earn a point at second doubles when Lauren Emich and Nicole Moloney defeated Adriana

Eisele and Sharen Resnikoff, 6-3, 6-3.

Shore's final point came at first doubles as Ali Weinman and Jenny Kohler outlasted Gwynne Alden and Paige Alden 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

"Ali and Jenny have both been playing doubles for three years

now and are both very talented doubles players," Gruskos said. "They had different partners the previous years, and they both used to be backhand players. But Ali switched to the forehand for us this year, and it has worked out very well."

Despite their loss against Manasquan, Gruskos is also very pleased with the tandem of Eisele and Resnikoff.

"This is their first year together too," the coach said. "They've had kind of an upand down first year playing doubles, but they've shown a lot of improvement lately on learning the doubles strategy. Adrianna (just a sophomore) has done a nice job of becoming more of a leader on the court."

Gruskos also commended freshmen Abby Reinhart and Jenny Haffield with their solid play this year.

"I've got those two girls on the bench and they are both very good players, which gives us that great depth," Gruskos added. "I can insert either one of them into the line-up and be totally confident that they'll do a great job."

With its 4-1 win over Manasquan (and their first state sectional under Gruskos), Shore improved to 15-2 on the year heading into today's Group II state semifinal at Mercer County Park. They will be playing at 9 a.m. against North Jersey I Group II champion Pascack Hills, the top-seeded team in Group II. Pascack Hills is 14-1 on the season and is currently ranked 20th in the state.

"Everybody's looking forward to the match," the coach said. "Obviously we'll have to play very well to advance. Hopefully the win over Manasquan will act as a springboard for us."