Little Tigers drop Group III semi
By: Bob Nuse
The Princeton High boys’ tennis team didn’t go quite as far as it hoped in the state Group III tournament. But the Little Tigers gained the kind of experience that should help them in later trips to face tennis’ elite teams.
"We have a lot of young players and I am hoping that this experience will be good for them in the future," said Princeton coach Paul Lynch, whose team dropped a 4-1 decision to Millburn in the Group III semifinals on Friday at Mercer County Park. "I think they were relaxed and did what they needed to do. We just ran into a team that was better than we were today. There is a reason they are the No. 3 team in the state. I thought we gave them a run for the money."
Millburn went on to defeat Cumberland and win the Group III state championship. Princeton finished the season with a 16-7 record, which included Central Jersey Group III and Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division championships.
"I think you have to look at this as a successful year," said Lynch, whose seven players on Friday included three players who will be graduating in June. "We repeated as sectional champions. We lose a lot in Chris (Hoeland), but we should be fine for the future. I am hoping the experience of being here and also of having gone through the state tournament will help the kids we have coming back. I think they all learned a lot this year."
Princeton started the season slowly, going 7-6 through the first 13 matches. But in those matches, they faced the kind of competition that got them ready for a run through the CJ III tournament that resulted in the school’s 28th sectional title.
On Friday, Princeton simply ran into a better team.
"The competition in the state tournament if very tough," Lynch said. "In order for us to become one of those top 20 teams, we have to work hard and make a commitment to getting better. I think the guys we have coming back are willing to work. Matt Ullman has worked hard and you can see the improvement he has made this spring. He’s really stepped up his game. David Zheng is another kid who has come on strong and should make his way into the singles lineup next year.
"We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores who had to step up for us this year and they did a nice job for us."
Princeton loses Hoeland, a strong presence in the singles lineup this year, as well as Cranbury’s Graham Macdonald and Andrew Bergman. While Hoeland will be gone, Lynch is confident he’ll leave behind the kind of work ethic in returning players that will help the Little Tigers continue to be successful.
"Chris set the tone," Lynch said. "He’s not typical of most tennis players. He’s relaxed and he works with the other kids in practice. Hopefully the lessons they learned from Chris during the time they spent with him in practice will be helpful for them down the road.
"He helped make this year easier for me. I enjoyed it. It was a good group of kids. I think they were all pretty relaxed all year."
Lynch hopes that same approach carries over to next year, even if Hoeland will no longer be around.
"We won’t have that stud player at No. 1 that we’ve had for the last few years with Ilia (Shatashvili) and Chris," Lynch said. "We’ll be pretty balanced from one through seven. We’ll have a lot of strong players who will be similar to each other and they’ll all have to work hard to get that top spot."