By: Rich Fisher
The gap between the South Brunswick and East Brunswick tennis teams hasn’t completely closed, but it has gotten a heck of a lot tighter.
In the first of what promises to be several meetings between the two teams this year, the Bears eked out a 3-2 victory over the Vikings Tuesday, giving the locals their first loss in four matches this season.
"We won at first and third singles, but we couldn’t pull off a doubles point," coach Nancy McDonald said. "Second singles went to the third set, the match was on the line at four-all and the other kid outplayed Arjun (Sapra) in the last two games and that was the match.
"But we needed a doubles match. It shouldn’t have come down to that. We’re usually solid in doubles, so I was hoping to get one out of two there."
But it did not happen, as the teams of Shuang Yang-Brian Binder and Najeeb Hussain-Guha Balakrishnan both fell in two sets. The Vikings got their wins from Rohan Patkar at first singles and former doubles player Mike Finkelberg at third.
"Mike seems OK at singles right now," McDonald said.
Entering Wednesday’s challenging match with Hillsborough, Patkar was 3-0, while Patel, Finkelberg and Yang-Binder were all 3-1. The second doubles team of Hussain-Balakrishnan was just 1-2, and McDonald was thinking of tinkering.
"They’ve been challenged by our third doubles team (Vignesh Chandramouli-Sandy Tumma)," McDonald said. "Our second doubles team is new together and they’ve got some things to work out. They’ll be all right when they get experience.
But right now, Chandramouli and Tumma are both seniors who have been playing together and have a little chemistry. Najeeb and Guha are my second doubles right now, but it’s not unlikely I wouldn’t give another team a chance.
"I still have to see how they play in matches. Sometimes kids can do well in a practice match against their teammates, but when they get in a match they have to make some adjustments on the other team’s strength and pick it up a little bit. If that doesn’t happen I may have to sub someone in there. I’ve got good depth at doubles."
Overall, McDonald is happy in the early going.
"We’re off to a good start," she said. " I think the matches will play out as we get deeper into the schedule and we’ll be able to keep a positive outlook for the county tournament. That’s where we’ll see where the best team is out there."

