Whitman pleased despite SBHS tennis setback

By: Rich Fisher
   Rain and the work of madmen put the South Brunswick High tennis program on hold this past week, as the Vikings only match in the books so far is a 4-1, season-opening loss to J.P. Stevens last Friday.
   Monday’s match at Old Bridge was postponed due to rain and Tuesday’s match at Highland Park was canceled due to the obvious. The Vikings took their 0-1 record into yesterday’s match with East Brunswick, but coach Barbara Whitman was happy with some of the results in the loss.
   The first doubles team of Kirthika Sutharsanam and Megha Parikh gained the Vikes lone with a 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker) 6-4 win over Maria Kuznetsovia and Nicole Keselman.
   "I’m looking for them to be a strong team in the county," Whitman said. "They went far in the county tournament last year and they look better this year."
   The coach is adapting a new attacking policy for her doubles teams, which she hopes will pay off.
   "Kirthika is very, very aggressive and a very assertive player on the court," Whitman said. "The way we’ve been practicing, they return the ball and come to net. I’m teaching them both to hit the ball and get to the net as soon as they can."
   First singles Kalpana Sampale also played well in defeat, losing to Stacey Fox 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
   "She played well, better than she played last year," Whitman said. "She didn’t make as many errors as last year, she’s really improved.
   "Our second doubles (of Brittany McMurren-Netra Prasad) looked good too (losing 6-4, 6-2). They all looked good in different ways. The match showed us different things we could learn, and we will work on them."
   The upcoming schedule features Edison and Franklin today (Thursday) and Friday, two teams that the Vikes should be competitive with.
   "I’m looking for a lot of success in different ways," Whitman said. "Winning and getting better on the court, improving on whatever we need to improve on is important. And having a good time, of course."