Knights face WW-P South tennis today
By: Andrew Cangiano
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North boys’ tennis team won on its home courts on a windy afternoon Wednesday against Notre Dame High to improve to 6-2 on the year.
Head coach Albert Paulsson said he is happy with his team’s effort so far this season.
"I think we’re progressing along well," Paulsson said. "The guys are working hard in practice. I have no complaints about their work ethic, they’re working hard.
"We have some new doubles combinations this year that I think are going to work out well for us."
One of those new doubles combinations, Ed Chang and Dotta Dixit, won their second doubles match, 6-2, 6-2, to improve to 3-0 as doubles partners.
Chang said he and Dixit’s contrasting styles of play make them a potent duo.
"For me it’s more chip and charge and for Dotta he hits bigger shots and bigger serves, so we can both go at the net," Chang said.
Chang said that the strong winds affected his play more than his partner’s. "I’m not the best player in the wind, but Dotta uses the wind very well," said Chang. "So overall he gave me more chances, so I’m going to hit better volleys."
Paulsson said he is happy with the progression of the singles players on his squad.
"The singles, they’ve had some tough competition so far this year and I think, again, they’re developing well," he said. "Today’s a tough match. I mean Notre Dame is very scrappy."
Senior Wayne Jenq, who won his singles match 6-1, 6-2, said he felt he played well, after getting off to a slow start this year.
"From the beginning I wasn’t really hitting the ball well, but today I was happy that I was hitting the ball," said Jenq. "My plan actually just worked, just going up to the net and being aggressive, just winning the points."
Jenq said after a slow start this season he’s starting to feel more confident on the court.
"From the beginning of the season I was playing actually horrendously, I was playing really bad," he said. "I was losing to people who I shouldn’t have lost to, and losing to people who I’ve beaten last year. It was actually kind of frustrating. But now after days of practicing and working on my strokes, I feel more confident."
Senior Apurva Dabholkar won his singles match in three sets, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-2. Dabholkar said he was able to recover after losing the first set tie-breaker by finding his opponent’s weakness and then exploiting it.
"I think after the first set I just found his weakness and just kept on picking on it," he said.
Dabholkar said the shot he used to foil his opponent was "this really, really short low ball that he was trying to attack but he just kept on missing."
With the win Dabholkar improved his record on the year to 6-2.
North was scheduled to visit J-P Stevens on Thursday before matching up against arch-rival WW-P South today.