PDS moves down, ends up

Panthers win Prep B tennis championship

By: Justin Feil
   At the beginning of the season, it was a little difficult for some of the Princeton Day School boys’ tennis players to accept moving down in the lineup with the entrance of first-singles freshman David Holland.
   By the end of the spring, moving down helped the Panthers move up as a team to claim their first Prep B championship since 1999 Monday.
   "In the beginning of the season, everyone had to face moving down a spot," said PDS’ third singles Seth Stein. "It didn’t look like a good thing. But it helped the team. Now I couldn’t have imagined us doing it without David Holland. Not only did he set a good example with his level of play, but he bumped us down a spot so we were one of the best if not the best at our spot."
   Last year, Stein was at second singles and won just his opening match in the Prep B tournament. Monday, he had to pull out his second three-set win of the tournament to win the third singles final and give PDS the outright team title. Had he lost, the Panthers would have tied four-time defending champion Rutgers Prep.
   "With Seth winning, it was nice to win it outright," said PDS head coach Rome Campbell. "I don’t think the boys would have been satisfied with a tie."
   Stein and the first doubles team of Bo Marshall and Sanjeev Sharma were the only Panthers to win a flight in the Prep B crown. Holland was second to Pepperdine-bound Peter Luck of Saddle River Day and the second-doubles team of Neil Sharma and Patrick Murphy finished second to Rutgers Prep.
   "I found a new partner this year, Bo Marshall, and we’ve put it together," said Sanjeev Sharma, who was eliminated in the first round of last year’s Prep B tournament at first doubles. "In the beginning of the season, I was playing second doubles with Neil Sharma. After four or five matches, I played with Bo. We won our first match, 6-0, 6-0, and I knew after that we’d be great.
   "I think we were pretty confident we’d win it. We were scared by the Saddle River singles players. But we expected to take home at least one doubles. We had played Rutgers Prep before and did beat them. They were the biggest doubles threat."
   While Sharma was in the same spot as last season, Marshall was another of the Panther players who moved down in the lineup. He advanced the furthest at last year’s Prep B tournament, losing in the finals as a freshman.
   "I feel more pressure is on at doubles," Marshall said. "You can’t get down on yourself because your partner looks at you to stay up. In singles, you can get mad at yourself and then just keep going. It was harder for me."
   Moving Marshall down also made it a lot harder on opponents. He and Sharma improved to 10-1 with Monday’s win. It’s a pairing that has proved to be a winning combination.
   "We just really focused on getting to the net," Sharma said. "I think that a lot of teams, they’re not as good at net. We’ve come to realize if you can take over the net, you don’t even have to have beautiful strokes. We focused on making the other team pass us."
   Added Marshall of the combo, "He’s just great at net. He was always great at net. When I set him up with a shot, he put it away. I was pretty much a baseliner last year. I would have forehand rallies, and I wouldn’t lose many of them. And we had probably the two best serves in Prep Bs, by far."
   The two will likely not play together beyond this year. With the graduation of lone senior Vikram Gupta, the Panthers’ second singles player, everyone stands to move up one spot and one of the top doubles players will move to singles.
   They’ll still be looked at as favorites after winning outright. All the PDS players from the flights that reached finals will return — with a team title to defend.
   "We definitely didn’t want to tie for it," Sharma said. "It was really good Seth won. It’s good to tie anyway. You’re still a champion. But to have that by yourself, it’s great. It feels great to win it. I’ve never experienced anything like this. I’m not into competitive tennis too much. To put my name on something like this feels pretty good."
   Having played singles as a freshman, Marshall is the frontrunner to return to the Panthers’ singles lineup. Marshall already is expecting a third singles B crown of himself, at the least. After Monday’s win, the standard is set.
   "I really wanted to win it," Marshall said. "We all worked so hard for it. It was great when it happened. I know Seth really wanted it. I know he felt bad about counties.
   "I’m glad he won. I don’t like sharing titles. I would have been more happy if there was a tiebreaker if he had lost."
   The Panthers did not have to share, however, as Stein pulled through in what’s become a comfortable setting — a third set. It was no surprise to his players and coaches that he went to the tiebreaker set, and no surprise that in the end he prevailed.
   "Seth stepped up to the plate and did nice job winning the match," Campbell said. "The kid came out playing very tough. He was undefeated going into the match. He’s a very prominent player. His brother plays at second singles for them. He has a big serve and a big forehand."
   Stein countered with pure toughness and the determination to win the match and get his teammates the outright crown. He did so by pulling out a 6-4 third-set decision after falling, 6-1, in the second set to bring all the attention to his match.
   "I knew we had to take at least two of the four flights to win the title," Stein said. "I knew what was going around me. I knew Bo and Sanjeev had won. I knew Neil and Patrick had lost. I knew the whole victory depended on me. That gave me something more to play for.
   "I knew David was the last one out there beside me, and I could tell from who was clapping that he had lost so I had to win. I couldn’t have asked for a better moment. It made it better. Suddenly an individual sport became a team sport. I had to win for the team to win."
   The win gave Stein, a junior, his first Prep B title and the Panthers their first crown since most of the team was in elementary school. It was a historic win, one that had just one potential drawback. It’s going to be hard to duplicate the drama and rush the Panthers took from this one.
   "Everyone was saying too bad it wasn’t my senior year," Stein said. "There’s nothing that could top that off. I’m definitely going to have to bring my level up for next year."
   Even with the loss of Gupta opening up a spot, next year figures to have a little less intrigue to it. The Panthers hope there’s no different ending.
   "It was real exciting for the team to finally win it," Campbell said. "We hadn’t been there in a while. It was a nice way to finish up the season. We had a good season."