Panthers tennis doubles win total of a year ago
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton Day School girls’ tennis team is winning more this season than they did last season.
It’s a welcome change, one that Nicole Auerbach has been through before with the PDS softball team last spring. Auerbach, the only pitcher PDS has used the last three years, fired a one-hitter in a 1-0 win over Pennington for the softball team’s first state championship since 1996. The softball team finished 14-3, exactly doubling the win total of seven from the previous two seasons combined.
Tuesday, Auerbach’s win at second singles allowed the Panther girls’ tennis team to triumph, 3-2, over Ranney and double last year’s win total of two. Auerbach was the deciding point. She came back Wednesday to win 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, in another 3-2 win over Kent Place as the Panthers improved to 5-2 on the season.
"Tennis is my second and it’s been a lot of fun," said Auerbach, a Hillsborough resident. "The same thing with softball, in the years prior to us winning, it’s kind of disappointing. Losses keep piling up and it gets depressing. But then you have a season like last year in softball, and it’s so good.
"This (tennis) season doesn’t matter if it’s close to that. We have a winning record, it’s fun and we already doubled our win total. We have something to show that we improved."
Auerbach’s success in the softball circle just might have helped make her stronger in tennis. Auerbach left the spring with a sense of satisfaction, and it made for a little different summer. Instead of being consumed by travel softball, Auerbach played tennis frequently in addition to holding down a summer job.
Spending a little more time on the tennis court has paid off for the senior. She has moved up one position in the PDS ladder to take over the second singles spot vacated by graduation.
"I’ve improved a lot," Auerbach said. "I’m winning matches I wouldn’t have got close in last year. It’s nice to see I’m contributing to the team and able to help us get that third point.
"I think it was a combination of getting another year older and playing this summer. I was working on everything. My serve got a little better, a little more consistent. Last year, I got upset easily. It’s just mental toughness. The coaches are great. They really helped me with that and during matches they’ve been helping me stay focused. It’s really been helping."
Auerbach had a few moments of tension Tuesday, especially when the match fell on her shoulders. But with everyone who wasn’t watching the first doubles match go to three sets looking on, Auerbach finished off the deciding match, 6-4, 6-2. First-singles Andrea Spector was a 6-4 winner in the first set when her opponent retired. Lauren Constantini was a 6-0, 6-0 winner at third singles.
"We do have a different year this year," said PDS head coach Patty Headley, whose team hosts Hun on Monday. "I love my team. They are so cute. When we won our second match, they were so excited, and said, ‘We tied last year already.’ Now we’re 4-3. We doubled our efforts. It’s all good. They’re awesome kids.
"Last year’s team wasn’t bad, but it only sometimes takes two more points and you’re done. This year, I think we’re capitalizing on those extra points. Andrea is having a great run. She never has an easy match. She’s had a great run. Nicole has moved up to second and done a great job. Lauren, she’s something. She’s a freshman. She has a ranking with USTA in Philadelphia in Districts. She’s a very skilled and a good tennis player."
Auerbach has impressed with her consistency and more powerful serve this year. Her improvement and move up has coincided with strengthening the Panthers.
"She moved up to second singles and that’s fairly impressive," Headley said. "There’s a lot more pressure. In the singles world, the level of play between first, second and third is pretty great. She has stepped up to the challenge.
"When she wins, she wins pretty easily. Most all of her scores are 6-1, 6-2, or 6-1, 6-3. She and Andrea are co-captains of the team. Nicole is the heart of the team. She’s the spirit. She does all the psyches. She takes being a captain seriously and does a great job."
Auerbach comes from a natural leadership position on the softball field. Being the pitcher carries its own great pressure, and dealing with that sort of feeling is nothing new. Now, thankfully for Auerbach, learning to handle success is getting to be a familiar feeling as well. First it was softball; now it’s in tennis.
"Last year, it was really kind of sad," she said. "We all had such great team bonding and chemistry and just couldn’t win the three team matches. It was a lot of fun, but our record didn’t reflect that we were having a good fun season. This year, it’s different. It’s fun and rewarding.
"It’s nice. Just seeing how we’ve gone the past couple years, it’s been rough. It’s nice to win some games and have all that."
Auerbach has been able to help the Panthers excel after making a move up. It’s not as big a jump, make that a leap, as she made when she went from second doubles to third singles last year.
"Last year, it was a big jump going up to singles," she said. "I really didn’t know how to win. I did OK, not great. This year, our second singles graduated so I expected to be fighting for it. We had a lot of challenge matches. I had the last one last week with Lauren. And I had to play a few of the first doubles people too. But I really wanted that spot. Once I was named co-captain, I really wanted it."
Auerbach has helped be a leader, along with Spector, for a PDS team that includes two freshmen, Constantini and second-doubles Nina Limaye, as well as a first-year player Raquel Perlman, who moved over from field hockey. Limaye and Perlman play second doubles.
"The main thing for all of us is we broke last year’s record already," Headley said. "We doubled it. I’m thrilled about my freshmen girls’ performance. Certainly the upperclassmen, you expect a lot from them. It’s nice to know they’re moving up."
And even after doubling last year’s win total, the Panthers are not slowing down. PDS is looking to double its fun all the way to the close of the season.
"We feel confident going into all these matches," Auerbach said. "Every day at practice, I can see our doubles teams’ net play improving and singles, their shots improving.
"We didn’t play Ranney before. We said that if we play our game, we can do it. We did. It’s a confidence boost. It’s exciting."
It reminds Nicole Auerbach of another exciting time in her life, last spring when she was part of a softball team that turned things around. Now, barely six months later, those same things are happening and those same warm feeling swirling around the PDS girls’ tennis squad.

