By: Carolyn M. Hartko
Nancy McDonald sounded like a used car salesman when describing the performance of her South Brunswick High tennis team this past spring.
"Great, super," McDonald said. "Better than I could have imagined."
The thing is, hardly any of the players were used, as four starters were first-time varsity competitors.
"Due to the fact I graduated eight seniors, who knew what was going to happen?" McDonald said. "We had a lot of spots to replace, and the underclassmen stepped in and won."
The results were impressive.
The Vikings finished 15-4 overall, 12-2 and in second place behind East Brunswick in both the Greater Middlesex Conference’s tough Red Division and the GMC Tournament. South also qualified for the NJSIAA Group IV tournament and won a first-round match, and every player had a winning record.
All this occurred with just two seniors in the lineup.
At first singles, Rohan Patkar was 19-5 overall and 15-3 in conference play. The junior qualified for the state singles tournament and reached the round of 32.
"Knowing the competition in our conference at first singles, I didn’t know how he was going to match up and how successful he would be," McDonald said. "We’re going against some of the best Group IV schools in the state, and everybody has at least one very good player.
"Match for match he worked on his game. He also worked on his game mentally. He came in in September thinking he was going to wipe everybody up with his power and you can’t last like that against the best. He had to change his game plan as the season went on and had to deviate from his original thoughts as to how he would be a success. And he did that."
At second singles, sophomore Arjun Sapra went 13-9 (10-8). It was Sapra’s first full season on varsity.
"Arjun was solid, especially for someone who did not have any singles experience," McDonald said. "Usually, every school has two good players who are competitive and skilled. Coming in, I didn’t know how he would hold up in singles play, but he reached the conference semifinal so my hat’s off to him."
Sophomore Najeeb Hussain went 15-6 overall and 11-6 in conference, and earned the team’s Most Improved Player award.
"He was my furthest down on the ladder at fourth doubles last year," McDonald said. "You don’t expect that big of a jump or that big of an improvement to happen in a year. He’s athletic, he worked on his game. He’s got more work to do, but he did the job at third singles."
And while the singles lineup was strong, thanks to the fact Patkar was able to handle first singles, McDonald said the key to her team’s prosperity was at doubles.
"It was the most success our team had at doubles in the seven years I’ve been here," the coach said.
It started with seniors Abe Alexander and Steven Yu at first doubles. Alexander moved up from second, Yu dropped down from singles and the two combined to go 12-6 (10-5) and qualify for the state doubles tournament.
"They were a pleasure," McDonald said. "They had fun together, they were successful. They had to figure out how to win together. It could have been a disaster, but personality wise they’re two great personalities.
"Abe is very calm, has a very laid back demeanor. Steve is laughing and having fun and being positive. He was the more vocal of the two, he kind of pulled Abe along and carried that team emotionally."
Second doubles was comprised of juniors Brian Binder and Shuang Yang, which not only went 14-5 (12-3) on the court, but made a splash off it. Yang achieved a perfect 2400 in SAT scores and Binder is an accomplished trumpeter. None of that mattered on the court, but the fellows did as well with rackets as they did with No. 2 pencils and trumpets in their hands.
"In our division, every team has seven good players," McDonald said. "Those two played great together and were pretty much my guaranteed point.
"They worked well together and they were also two different personalities. They both had successes off the court, but there’s something to be said for kids who can do that and stay committed."
Speaking of commitments, McDonald shied away from committing about how the team will be next season, despite the fact five starters return.
"That’s a long way away," she laughed. "I’ve still got summer vacation and volleyball in the fall to worry about."
BACKHANDERS: The Viking JV team went 8-2 this year and continues to provide a solid feeder system to the varsity . . . Other varsity players who contributed this season were Vignesh Chandramouli, Ben Hochberg, Sandy Tumma, Mike Finkelberg . . . John Lolli was a welcome addition as a first-year assistant.
