By: Rich Fisher
The Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament was bittersweet for the South Brunswick High tennis team.
Well, maybe bummersweet might be more applicable.
Although Rohan Patkar’s second-place finish was anything but bitter, it was kind of a bummer considering that Patkar entered the GMCT as the No. 1 seed.
But there was some sweet to go with that. With two runner-up spots and three third-place finishes, all seven Viking players earned medals at Middlesex County College last weekend. It’s the first time that happened under coach Nancy McDonald.
It all added up to a tie for second with North Brunswick, as both teams garnered 12 points to finish three behind J.P. Stevens.
"When you look at it, there are 25 teams in the tournament now, the best of the best come out on Saturday," McDonald said. "We finished tied with North Brunswick, but I take that as a second because we beat them head-to-head. And we all walked out of there with hardware, which is probably more than anyone else, other than J.P. Stevens, did."
Along with Patkar, the second doubles team of Guha Balakrishnan-Najeeb Hussain finished second after being seeded third. Fourth-seeded Arjun Sapra and third-seeded Mike Finkelburg took third at second and third singles, while the third-seeded second doubles team of Shuang Yang and Brian Binder were also third.
"The consolations all won their third-place matches, so that was nice to see," McDonald said.
In the first singles finals, Patkar led Piscataway freshman Chidi Gabriel 3-2 before Gabriel broke serve and took a 6-4 win in the first set. Patkar had a 4-2 lead in the second set before Gabriel rallied for another 6-4 win.
"Ro knew he would have his hands full, he never played him before and he’d never seen him play other than what he caught from watching him the semis," McDonald said. "I know his expectations were high, he had the top seed and they were both undefeated. But somebody had to walk out a loser."
According to the coach, losing the first set weighed heavily on the Vikings.
"He played well in the first set," McDonald said. "He was real disappointed after he lost. Prior to the tournament he hadn’t lost a first set all season. When he loses it, it’s something he has to deal with. I think his mind was still on it in the second set and he had trouble re-focusing on a new set."
McDonald said the fact Patkar went up 4-2 in the second set might have been more a case of Gabriel letting down.
"I think he might have relaxed a little," the coach said. "I know Ro’s mind was still on the first set. When I would go up to the fence to talk to him, he was still talking about things he should have done in the first set. He had trouble letting go of it.
"But that kid had an answer for everything Ro did. He’s a real good player, quick, very athletic."
Patkar will have his chance for revenge Friday when the Vikings take on Piscataway in a dual match at home.
As for Hussain-Balakrishnan, they lost a 6-3, 6-3 decision to JPS’s William Terry-Dan Nguyen.
"They had lost to them earlier this year in a very close, three-set match," McDonald said. "But it’s the tournament, they’re juniors, they’re new together. It just didn’t seem like they could get anything going. Before they knew it, it was over. But they held up to their seed and they got to the finals."
Although the GMCT is now in the books, McDonald is trying to impress on her team that there is still a lot to play for.
"This isn’t like the other sports, where the county tournament is at the end of the year," she said. "We still have half the season to go. We are still in the (GMC Red Division) race for a championship, we want to play for a higher seeding in the state tournament and both Ro and first doubles have qualified for the states (as individuals) so they’d like to play for higher seedings.
"The season is still out there. Hopefully we have enough incentive to keep it going."

