Cardinal tennis squad puts up fight against Big Red

Tennis

By: Jim Green
   Losing to a cross-town rival isn’t always disappointing. At least not when that rival is The Lawrenceville School.
   The Lawrence High School boys tennis team, fresh off a solid 3-2 triumph over Hightstown, put up a strong fight before dropping a 3-2 away match Saturday to its rival prep school.
   "It was a good match," Lawrence coach Pat Tarrant said. "It was very competitive throughout. Two of our three losses were decided in three sets."
   Third singles player Raj Kapoor, a junior, and a makeshift first-doubles team of seniors Vishal Suvagiya and Brian Thaler lost hard-fought three-set decisions to their Lawrenceville counterparts. Thaler, who normally plays second doubles, was forced into a first-doubles role by the absence of starting senior Chad Ham, who was visiting Bucknell University.
   Moving Thaler up to first doubles gave freshmen Travis McGouhan and John Stracquantanio, the Cardinals’ backup squad at second doubles, an opportunity to play against top-flight competition. The pair came through with an impressive win, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
   McGouhan and Stracquantanio trailed the second set 4-1 before bouncing back to force the tiebreak, which they won.
   "That (McGouhan and Stracquantanio winning the match) showed me a lot," Tarrant said. "They were hurting a little bit in the second set. They were fatigued, but they came back."
   First singles player Aaron Naar continued his impressive senior season with a 7-5, 6-0 win. Naar, usually a doubles player prior to this season, improved to 3-1 at the top spot.
   "I saw a lot of good things," Tarrant said. "They (the Big Red) have a lot of courts and a lot of players, so everyone had a chance to play.
   "It was a good day of tennis. It was a nice afternoon."
   The Cardinals fell short, though, as senior second singles player Josh Margolis fell in straight sets at second singles. Margolis, though, was coming off a dramatic effort that propelled the Cardinals past Hightstown at home April 10.
   Margolis defeated the Rams’ Sonny Randhawa 6-4 in the first set and battled to force a tiebreak in the second. Margolis prevailed 8-6 in the tiebreak, giving his team some early momentum.
   "Josh (Margolis) had a good win," Tarrant said. "He was done relatively early. It was definitely a big win."
   Tarrant, who received a strong effort from Margolis at third singles last year, expected the veteran to come through in the clutch.
   "He (Margolis) has been doing that (winning big matches) for years now," Tarrant said. "He’s always won some big matches.
   "He’s come back at big matches before. He always finds ways to win. He never quits."
   With Hightstown featuring one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s best first singles players in Chris Clayton, Naar figured to be overmatched in his match. That meant the Cardinals would need to pick up at least three wins from the other four spots.
   Kapoor lost his third singles match to the Rams’ Ben Harris 6-0, 7-5, leaving Lawrence’s doubles teams in must-win positions.
   Ham and Suvagiya cruised to their third straight win as a team, 6-1, 6-1 over Hightstown’s Mark Patruniak and Jeff Schwartz. The Cardinals’ key win came at second doubles, where Thaler and his usual partner, senior Arpan Bhattacharya, defeated the Rams team of Kaval Shah and Bhavi Patel 7-5, 6-2.
   "The win at second doubles was definitely crucial," Tarrant said.
   Lawrence improved to 3-0 in the CVC with the win. Despite the Cardinals’ hot start, Tarrant remains guardedly optimistic.
   "I’ve seen us play some good tennis," he said. "Now the challenge will be to do it consistently."
   The Cardinals will face another cross-town rival, Notre Dame at 3:45 p.m. today at LHS.