Pirate girls sweep East Brunswick for Group IV title
By: Bob Nuse
When the season started, the expectations were very high for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls’ tennis team.
The Pirates returned a solid group of players from a team that had reached the Tournament of Champions semifinals a year ago. Thus, all involved were hopeful of at least coming close to that feat again this year. The Pirates took the first step toward that goal Friday when they won their second straight Central Jersey Group IV championship with a 5-0 win over East Brunswick.
With the win, the Pirates advanced to the state Group IV semifinals, where they will take on Cherry Hill East 11 a.m. Wednesday at Mercer County Park. With a win, South would come back at 3 p.m. to face the winner of the other semifinal between Livingston and Ridgewood.
All season long the Pirates, who improved to 16-2 with the win, have shown an ability to win at the singles and doubles positions. With Celene Chang, Pearly Leung and Victoria Vaynberg sweeping the singles matches against East Brunswick, the three improved their combined season record to 53-3. Chang avenged her only defeat of the season when she topped the Bears’ Alina Balasa in straight sets, having lost to her during a regular-season meeting in mid-September. Both Leung and Vaynberg have lost only in the state singles tournament.
As dominant as the Pirates’ singles have been, the doubles have been just as strong. Dorota Niedzwiecki and Kim Lee Lum improved to 15-2 on the season with their win at first doubles, while Agata Niedzwiecki and Ilena Ojeda improved to 16-2 with a straight-sets win at second doubles.
For the Niedzwiecki sisters, the championship gave both an opportunity to enjoy victory while on the court. A year ago, Dorota put together a solid season at doubles for the Pirates, while Agata was the top player on the junior varsity team. While Agata played in a number of varsity matches during the season, her state tournament role was more one of supporting her teammates.
"I was a little nervous because I hadn’t played in a match like that before," Agata said. "But it was a good nervousness and it worked out well. Our first match against (East Brunswick) this year didn’t go that long, so I was pretty confident. I was playing a little bit hurt, so I just wanted to get out there and win.
"I’m happy that I’m playing and that my matches are counting. Last year I was No. 1 on the JV, so I subbed in a lot and played. So I’m used to playing. I just hadn’t played in the state matches before."
"Both of us are real happy and excited about winning," said Dorota, who gets to play on the court next to her sister in the state matches this fall. "She enjoys tennis and she was a contributor last year. This year she’s getting to play in the state matches, which makes it nice.
"We had played East Brunswick before but my partner and I had a challenge and went three sets against them. This match was the same way. We won the first set and lost the second, so we really had to focus on the third set."
For a team expected to do so much this year, the sectional title they secured Friday is just the first step in what they hope is a long run ahead.
"We had a lot of expectations coming into the season because of what we did last year," Agata said. "We just wanted to make sure that we didn’t let anyone down. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to keep up with last year and maybe do a little better."
A little better would mean reaching the Tournament of Champions final, which would make for a pretty good two-year run by the Pirates.
"We’re hoping to get back to the Tournament of Champions and we’ll see what happens," Dorota said. "We played Cherry Hill East last year and we won the match, but my partner (Wendy Mellman) and I lost. It was a good, close match and it probably will be a good match again this year."
One the Pirates hope results in the same outcome.