Yi-ppee for narrow PHS win again

Little Tigers prevail on three-setter

By: Justin Feil
   The day after the conclusion of the Mercer County Tournament was well spent for Jennifer Yi.
   The junior was one of only two flights for the Princeton High School girls’ tennis team that did not make the MCT semifinals on Wednesday. Her MCT ended with a 6-2, 6-1 loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Nisha Javeri last Monday. Four days later, Yi had to face Javeri again as part of the teams’ regular-season match.
   "I got a lot of encouragement from teammates and our coach," Yi said. "We had one day in between. We practiced a lot on how Nisha might be able to hit. A lot of it is mental too."
   Able to clear her mind and start from scratch, Yi fought into the early Friday evening to come up with 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 over Javeri that clinched a 3-2 win over the Pirates. Yi normally wouldn’t like the pressure of playing with a gaggle of PHS fans looking on, but Wednesday was different.
   "Today, it worked for me," Yi said. "They were encouraging me. West Windsor South had a lot of fans there so I felt like I wanted my teammates to support me too."
   PHS’ Alex Willig also turned around an MCT semifinal loss to Annie Scharfstein at second singles, and the second doubles team of Liz Haughton and Allegra Bianchini was a straight-set winner. It was the second straight year that the Little Tigers held off the Pirates by a 3-2 count, and second straight year that it ended with the clinching set going 7-5. PHS improved to 8-0 while WW-P South fell to 7-1. The Pirates picked up wins at first singles by Joelle Nitzberg, who turned around an MCT loss to Priya Joshi with a straight sets win, and at first doubles from Allison Kempf and Lesley Norris.
   "Last year," Yi said, "Alex was in the last match against Joelle. It’s interesting that it was the same score."
   Yi knows that she was one of the Little Tigers on the fence cheering for Willig to win last year. Yi’s match had long before ended last year with a loss, and Friday’s win helped take away any lingering guilt.
   "Last year, I lost pretty badly to Allison Kempf, who plays doubles for them," Yi said. "I lost to Nisha pretty badly in the Mercer Counties. I felt like I needed to play my best. She makes me play my best.
   "Mentally, it was a big confidence booster to win (the first set)," she added. "After you win the first set, you know it’s possible to win another one to win the match. Your confidence goes up and you start hitting the shots you practiced."
   Though Yi remains in the third singles spot she played in last year, she has stepped up her game. That improvement along with some more subtle changes allowed her to win Friday.
   "Last year, I had some issues with the way I hit my forehand," she said. "I worked on that during the preseason. I grew a little bit. That helps generate power and with my first serve. Somehow, I matured mentally too. It’s not just hitting hard. There’s other ways to winning."
   Very little separated the two teams from winning and losing Friday. On any given day, the result could be changed. WW-P South finished one spot ahead of PHS at the MCT on the strength of all five flights reaching the semifinals. The teams went 2-2 in head-to-head matches during the MCT, but the results were completely different in each of the singles matchups from what they had been at the MCT.
   "I knew it was going to be really tight," said PHS head coach Sarah Heyman. "Unless there was some fluke, I didn’t see either team getting blown out. I knew they had a really good shot at a couple flights. I knew we had a couple flights we could win. I knew it would be how they played. There were three turnarounds from counties. It was tense. It came right down to the wire."
   It came down to Yi, who had had mixed results in the past in that situation. She won to help the Little Tigers beat Allentown, 3-2, last year. She lost in a 3-2 loss to Montgomery High School last year as well. She did not let past results affect her, including her most recent county loss.
   "By playing them once already indirectly, we knew we had just as big a shot as they did at beating us," Yi said. "You kind of go out with a sense of nothing to lose. I already met her. I felt like I wasn’t playing my game well in the Mercer County Tournament. You need to go out there and play your best regardless of what happened before.
   "It’s really encouraging to win. I don’t get to experience a lot of three-set matches. It kind of evened up how I did at the Mercer County Tournament. It was not really revenge, but I knew I could hang with her."
   If anything, Friday’s match showed just how closely the two teams are matched. The Little Tigers pulled out this one, but the Pirates could have won just as easily.
   "There’s always going to be a good rivalry," said Heyman, who played for the Pirates in high school. "They’re always two of the best schools in the area. Even when we lose players, people still come in to replace them. Going into it, I certainly wasn’t confident of a win. But I definitely knew we had the potential to do it.
   "I’m really pleased how everyone played today. Even the two that didn’t win, they still gave their all. Any time you walk away with a win, you’re excited, particularly when it comes down to a high-pressure match. I’m proud of Jenn. I don’t think she enjoys when people watch her."
   Not only did Yi battle through a nerve-wracking situation, but also she did so with a slight muscle strain in her leg. It was one more thing she had to overcome.
   "Things like that fuel you," Yi said. "I was at a little disadvantage already. You feel like you have nothing to lose so you might as well try your hardest. Eventually you forget about it when you’re concentrating.
   "I was looking forward to it. I wanted a second chance to try to win. During the season, we don’t always get competitive matches. You look forward to these matches. You know you’re going to get a challenge."
   The Little Tigers know they passed their toughest challenge to date. They remained unbeaten with as close a win as they could get.
   "I just think it shows how good and competitive both our teams are," Yi said. "The fact that we have to go to three-set matches. West Windsor South, they’re always this challenge during the season."