West Windsor-Plainsboro High South freshman strengthens girls’ tennis team
By: Justin Feil
Victoria Vaynberg knows how to get her name in the paper.
"I talk a lot," said the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South freshman. "Supposedly, reporters like that."
And talk she does. Whether in Russian on her cell phone to call home, laughing with Pirate girls’ tennis teammates, or just talking with fans, Vaynberg speaks candidly, even questioning some practice drills.
"She tells you what she’s thinking," said WW-PS head coach Craig Frame, who also coached Vaynberg when she was in middle school. "You know where you stand."
None of that would matter too much to a reporter, however, if it were not for Vaynberg’s tennis skills. Just over a week into the fall season, it is her tennis game that speaks the loudest.
The diminutive 13-year-old, who could easily still pass for a middle-schooler, was done before half of the other matches began a second set Friday to help WW-PS to a 5-0 sweep of Princeton High School. The Pirates were perfect in four matches this year going into Monday’s scheduled match against The Hun School, and Vaynberg has given away just one game – Thursday against East Brunswick.
"Even that, which was my most challenging match, it was 6-0, 6-1," Vaynberg said. "It wasn’t hard. I haven’t had any tough matches (during the high school season), but when I have, I’ve played well."
Vaynberg was runner-up at the 16s Section Rank tournament held the first weekend of Sept. to Princeton Day School’s No. 1 player Alexis Jacobi. Vaynberg is nationally ranked in the 14-and-under age division after breaking into the top 50 when she was in 12-and-unders.
"I started playing when I was four," said Vaynberg, whose Ukrainian mother is director of tournament training for the Princeton Tennis Program. "It was something I was sort of expected to do, but I liked it."
Vaynberg, who was born in Ukraine before moving first to West Orange, then to Plainsboro and finally to West Windsor, is a welcome addition to the WW-PS girls’ tennis team that lost last year to Newark Academy in the Tournament of Champions semifinals.
In the preseason, Vaynberg defeated returning starter and Mercer County Tournament champion Delia Negutescu for the third singles spot behind No. 1 Celene Chang and No. 2 Pearly Leung. It once again means the Pirates have a solid top singles lineup.
"I never expected to play one or two," said Vaynberg, whose 15-year-old brother, Eugene, expects to go out for the boys’ team this spring. "Third was obviously an option. I knew I couldn’t beat Pearly or Celene. I knew Dorota and Agata (Niedzwiecki, doubles players), but I didn’t know Delia. I thought I might play first or second doubles.
"I would have been happy if I were playing doubles, but I guess I’d rather play singles. I thought I could help them do better this year. I didn’t think I’d drop the team record."
While Vaynberg is looking forward to some tougher matches if the Pirates succeed in returning to the Group IV and TofC tournaments, her eyes are focused even further down the road at a bigger target. She would like to play in the state singles tournament, but knows it won’t be easy to qualify.
"I’m sort of freaking out about that," Vaynberg admitted. "You have to have, or have had, a national ranking so I have that, but you also have to be undefeated."
Vaynberg points to state powerhouses like Shawnee and Moorestown as teams with players who could give her a challenge. Content with her ground strokes and ability to put away points, she’s focusing now on developing more kick to her second serve. Still, no one who’s seen her game now is telling Vaynberg that she shouldn’t aim sky-high.
"I’m really impressed with her," Frame said. "Some middle school programs have a lot more competitive matches. Because of that, Victoria has played some clutch matches so this hasn’t affected her as much. I can’t say it’s the same to be undefeated in middle school and high school.
"That’s a big goal for her. She really wants that. Every day she comes out and she’s aggressive and going after it."
If Vaynberg achieves that goal, it can only help WW-PS. The Pirates’ top two players, Chang and Leung, are beginning to work into top form and the doubles teams appear set after Negutescu left the team. A 4-1 win over East Brunswick and the sweep of PHS – two of WW-PS’s tougher regular season, non-tournament matches – have Frame feeling good.
"I’m very happy," the first-year head coach said. "Going into this week, I was a little anxious because I hadn’t coached the team in the past. I hadn’t seen them in a pressure match.
"When they got to the court (Thursday), they buckled down and focused better. They got their stuff together, and when we needed them to step it up (Friday), it was better."
Leung fell behind, 3-2, to Princeton freshman Stacey Kalinina before pulling out a 6-3, 6-3 win. At No. 1, Chang looked over the tendinitis in her wrist that kept her out of the first two matches this season in a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of Ann Raldow. The Little Tigers played without second singles player Annemarie Schoemaker, who hasd a pulled quad muscles.
In doubles, Dorota Niedzwiecki and Kim Lee Lum stopped Claire Mulvey and Joyce Driscoll, 6-0, 6-2 while Agata Niedzwiecki and Illeana Ojeda held back Katerina Visnjic and Alicia Ling, 6-1, 7-5.
"I thought we played better than the score indicated," said PHS head coach David Black, whose team dropped to 3-1 this season. "I think our girls came out relaxed. They just played better knowing they weren’t expected to win. It showed in the second set of second doubles and for Stacey. I know our girls are looking to (Mercer) Counties to play even better. And Annemarie is mad she couldn’t play. I think we could have made it closer."
But that’s only talk.
As Victoria Vaynberg knows, you also have to back up the talk with a racket.