Practice pays off for Joshi

PHS sophomore doesn’t let pressure get to her in semis

By: Justin Feil
   Priya Joshi has not forgotten the good and bad times on the Princeton High School girls’ tennis team last year.
   Count a loss to Wall in the Central Jersey III final among one of the latter.
   So when PHS’ biggest match of the year came down to Joshi at first singles, the sophomore knew there was plenty to play for. She delivered with a three-set win to give the Little Tigers a 3-2 win over Wall on Tuesday and a return trip to the sectional final.
   "I knew everyone was waiting for me and waiting for me to win," Joshi said. "My team was expecting me to win. Knowing my team believes in me, that really helped me push through.
   "I knew I had to win to win this match for them and get revenge on Wall. I didn’t want to lose to them again. That was the definite main motivator. I didn’t want to lose again."
   Joshi joined the PHS doubles teams as winners in Tuesday’s match. It allowed the second-seeded Little Tigers to advance to take on top-seeded Moorestown, realigned this year in CJ III after years of coming out of South Jersey brackets, 3 p.m. today at Mercer County Park.
   "I know Moorestown is a good team," Joshi said. "I’ve never seen any of their players play. They were seeded one above us. Usually it’s quite hard to compare a girl’s game against mine because mine is so unique. I’m just going to go out and try my hardest and maybe I can pull off another spectacular win."
   Joshi has already shown some spectacular improvement this year to enable her to win Tuesday, as well as advance to the Mercer County Tournament final and qualify for the state individual tournament. Last year, Joshi played second singles for PHS.
   "Last year, I was a little less of a match player," Joshi noted. "I didn’t have experience in playing matches. This summer, I focused on playing a lot of tournaments and becoming a good player. I worked on coming through under pressure."
   With Mom giving mental game support and Dad working on her strokes, Joshi has found new success even while moving up one spot in the team’s ladder. Improvements in both areas have permitted her to continue to develop. What makes her game unique is a topspin shot that is harder to handle this year.
   "This summer, I incorporated the topspin into my game," Joshi said. "It’s been a huge support to my game. With more topspin, I get more consistency. That frustrates every opponent.
   "I didn’t know how to use it last year. It was a weapon I didn’t know how to use. As my coach says, with practice everything becomes perfect."
   The Little Tigers had remained perfect until Monday’s loss to Lawrenceville. PHS and Wall each entered with a single loss, but it was the Little Tigers who delivered in three matches for the team victory. The win avenged last year’s 4-1 loss to Wall in the sectional final.
   "I knew it was going to be a close match," said PHS head coach Sarah Heyman, whose team improved to 11-1 with Tuesday’s win. "I thought we had a chance to win. I wasn’t 100 percent confident. I knew the history from last year. I knew they were a tough squad. I also knew they had suffered some losses. With our singles returning, we were hoping it would be enough to make a difference. And their doubles were different from last year so we were hoping to make some headway there.
   "It was a pleasant surprise that our doubles started out as well as they did and continued to play that well. I felt they had the potential to win, but I didn’t expect a 6-0 set from both of them. They definitely played well."
   Both Liana Dorman and Kasey Reisman at first doubles and Liz Haughton and Allegra Bianchini at second doubles did not lose a game in the first set before taking the second set with slightly more resistance. Joshi also won the first set before Wall’s Carly Graver came back to win the second set. Joshi dominated the third set, 6-2, for the win.
   "The first set was a real confidence booster," she said. "I think I would have had a lot more trouble if I lost the first set. The second set, I didn’t feel it was a problem. She started to play more aggressive and I started to play more defensive. That’s not normally how I play. In the third set, I was confident I had to push the set out and be more aggressive. I was much more confident going into the third set. I knew I could play more aggressive."
   It certainly helped that Joshi was able to handle being the center of attention. With every other match completed in two sets, all eyes were on her.
   "This is probably the biggest match I played in front of the team," she said. "It’s the first time I felt the pressure of needing to win the extra point for the team."
   Added Heyman: "She really held it together in a tough situation with the match on her shoulders with two teams lined up watching. And with the hopes of her team resting on her racket, she managed to come through for us."
   It was just why Joshi has played so many tournaments over the summer and why she spent five hours on most days playing. Joshi had shown her mental toughness last year in rebounding from a first-set loss and 0-3 deficit in the second set to win the deciding point for PHS in the CJ III semifinals. When the team returned this year, Heyman could see Joshi had improved since then. It enabled Joshi to vault to the top spot for the Little Tigers.
   "She’s just really put a lot of time into her game," Heyman said. "Not just has she improved the on-court aspects, she’s improved the mental part of her game as well. She plays tougher. She hangs in more. I think she feels she can play with anybody. She enjoys the tough matches."
   Joshi figures to have another one today against Moorestown. It’s another chance to show what she already knows, her summer was well spent.
   "I know freshman year, I made goals I wasn’t sure I could reach," she said. "I wanted to get to the next level of my game, to get more than fourth in the Mercer County Tournament. I also wanted to beat Wall. Those were my two main goals. Generally, I felt I had to work very, very hard to accomplish that. Now that I got second at counties and helped my team beat Wall, I’ve realized all my work over the summer paid off.
   "I always work for satisfaction. I played for five hours pretty much every day. Now that I have that satisfaction, I’m glad I worked so many hours."
   So, too, is the PHS girls’ tennis team after watching Priya Joshi help wrap up another trip to the sectional finals. It’s a good time that none of them will forget.