WW-PS finishes second, Hun third in close competition
By: Justin Feil
It wasn’t as close as its two-point victory last year, but the Princeton High boys’ tennis team captured what turned out to be a very close Mercer County Tournament on Wednesday. Everywhere, teams could point to a match that could have gone either way, and might have made a difference.
Wednesday, the second day of the MCT, had a total of eight three-set matches between the semifinals, finals and consolation finals. That made favored PHS sweat out its win a little more than some expected, but left it savoring a hard-fought win for back-to-back championships.
"We might have been favorites because we beat West Windsor South in the regular season, but we had tough draws in every flight," said PHS head coach David Black. "I liked our chances better last year."
In the end, the Little Tigers, with 38 out of a possible 40 points, again proved to be the deepest team as they captured four of the five flights, and their second doubles team advanced to the final before falling to West Windsor-Plainsboro High South.
"We had the higher seeds, but everyone seemed to think that West Windsor was going to take us," said Ted Distler, the only senior on the PHS squad, who teamed with Chad Maisel to win the first doubles title. "That was fine with us. We like being the underdogs. But we definitely wanted it."
The Pirates’ had Alex Wang and Russell Nitzberg finish first in the second doubles flight and the team was second in three other flights to finish second overall as a team with 30 points.
"These guys are not happy about this," said WW-PS head coach Jim Giovacchini of the Pirates, who were also second last season. "It’s disappointing for them. They wanted to win. But Princeton is at least a Top 10 team in the state. I was really happy for my freshman and Alex Wang. Those are two guys playing in the Mercer County Tournament for the first time."
The Hun School placed third with 21 points, West Windsor-Plainsboro High North was fourth with 16 and Princeton Day School was fifth with 10 points.
"We really played well the first day," said Hun head coach Chris Kingston, whose squad had four of five players reach the semifinals after nobody did so last season. "We played three first seeds (Wednesday) and played one with Scott (Wong) on Monday. A couple of them were undefeated. I was hoping we could knock off one or two, but it didn’t work out. It was nice to see our guys respond in the consolations. Overall, it was a pretty good tournament for us."
Hun’s Andrew Maisel captured the third singles consolation while the Raiders’ first and second doubles teams captured consolation matches. No other Packet-area team won a consolation match, and no Mercer County team succeeded in dethroning the Little Tigers.
Princeton’s Ilia Shatashvilia captured a second straight MCT flight title, this time at first singles. He did it the hard way, going through No. 1 seed Chris Clayton of Hightstown before knocking off third-seeded Benny Gordon-Goldstein in two sets.
"Ilia beating Chris Clayton was huge," Distler said. "There’s no way we would be here if he hadn’t won."
Shatashvili wasn’t alone in turning in an impressive performance under the conditions. Greg Wu claimed the second singles title, but had to top Lawrence’s Andrew Marks in three sets before facing unbeaten Eugene Vaynberg of South. Wu triumphed, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, to avenge a straight sets defeat in their regular season meeting.
"Greg’s win was the icing on the cake," Black said of the Little Tigers’ final win of the day. "Greg seems to be getting better and better with every match. He’s won six straight which began when he beat two good opponents on Sunday in the Delbarton Tournament. As he likes to say, he’s diesel."
If Wu is diesel, then Chris Hoeland must be burning rocket fuel. The freshman had his way with the field, losing just six games in four matches. He finished with a 6-0, 6-0 win over unseeded Wayne Jenq of WW-P North.
"I really was most confident coming in with him," Black said. "Sometimes third singles isn’t the strongest flight, depending on the depth of other teams. We’re fortunate to get a player of his caliber. He has an illustrious career ahead of him."
And Jenq’s 3-1 record in his first MCT proves that he’ll be a challenger in years to come as well. He was the lone Knight to make a final.
"That was a great run for Wayne," said WW-PN Albert Paulsson, who lost defending MCT third singles champion Kevin Tsay to an ankle injury. "We lost our third guy and Wayne has stepped up and risen to the occasion and played really well. It’s a tough field of players here.
"I’m definitely proud of the team’s performance. The team played better than they did last year, which was their first. That’s progress. Every year you try to improve from the season before, so I’m pleased."
Distler and Chad Maisel’s win at first doubles was, along with Hoeland, the only two flights that followed their regular season format. In the PHS-South match, the two won in three sets. Wednesday, they did it again, dropping the first set, 6-1, before rallying for wins in the second and third sets.
"They’ve lost the first set six times," Black said. "The amazing thing is they’re 32-0 in the second and third sets now. They’ve never lost a second or third set. They don’t even worry when they lose the first set."
"I’m confident in me and Chad," said Distler as they improved to 16-0 this season. "I knew we would have a tough match. They came out great."
But South couldn’t sustain the momentum and PHS pulled even and then took the flight. The only flight in which the Pirates won was second doubles, when a different combination of Pirate players from the first time the teams played met Brett Willig and Eli Shindelman.
"Our second doubles didn’t play badly, West Windsor-Plainsboro South was really solid," said Black. "Brett and Eli are a little disappointed but they’ve contributed a lot to our success."
And they’ll have plenty of other years to contribute as only Distler is expected to be gone from next season’s PHS squad. The Little Tigers will have plenty of competition when they take aim at a three-peat next season. The Pirates also graduate just one player and Hun loses only a pair of its players.
"I think it will be close for years to come," Black said. "This year, I thought we had some tougher semifinal matches. This was our primary goal, to defend the county title and the guys came through again."