PHS tennis falls in CJ III final

Moorestown ends Little Tigers title hopes

By: Justin Feil
   Even before the season began, the Princeton High School girls’ tennis team could foresee a tougher sectional.
   The Little Tigers, who reached the Central Jersey Group III final last season, advanced to the sectional final again this year. This time, PHS had to go through last year’s champion, Wall, in the semifinals last Tuesday before meeting perennial state power Moorestown.
   Moorestown, the top seed in CJ III this year, was moved out of the South Jersey sectional that they had played in for years due to realignment. The Quakers upheld their No. 3 ranking by Dorf Features Service with a 5-0 win over PHS at Mercer County Park on Friday, but the Little Tigers made it a much tighter match than the score would indicate. The final match wasn’t decided for nearly two hours.
   "Everyone started out pretty well," said PHS head coach Sarah Heyman after her team slipped to 12-2 this season. "We were in every match. We just couldn’t win the big points. They played a steady, frustrating game and caused our girls to make mistakes.
   "It’s disappointing, but it was nice to make it to the finals. They lose a lot of seniors."
   Princeton will not. The Little Tigers exit with the knowledge that all but first doubles’ Liana Dorman and second doubles’ Liz Haughton will be back next year. A second chance was all it took to top Wall this year after losing in the sectional final to them last year.
   "Each year it’s a new game," Heyman said. "They have an older lineup, mostly juniors and seniors. Hopefully with us returning a lot to our lineup, we’ll still bring a lot of strength and experience back. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reverse the defeats if we meet again."
   Moorestown conceded that this year’s title run through CJ III was more difficult than many it had had in SJ III. The Quakers won the last 16 titles while playing in the South Jersey Group II or Group III. PHS has reached the sectional final in each of the last two seasons.
   "It was a goal for us," Heyman said. "We knew we’d have a tougher section with Moorestown being moved in and Wall being a semifinal instead of a final. It was a great win for us to make it here (3-2 over Wall).
   "It’s disappointing we couldn’t win more matches here. But they fought. And they were close. They just couldn’t close out the big points. But they are the No. 3 team in the state so it’s tough. We showed we can compete with them. We didn’t lose 0-0 anywhere."
   Moorestown’s Kate Penziner at first singles and Zoey Call at second singles mixed up their pace quite a bit, changing between high lob shots and rocketing returns. Priya Joshi and Alex Willig had their moments, but not enough of them. At third singles, Jennifer Yi had some long rallies with Moorestown’s Winnie Call but couldn’t overcome the lanky lefty who got to most every shot.
   "It just gets frustrating after a while," Heyman said. "When it’s like that, you’re trying to dictate play. And often when you’re the one that dictates play, you make mistakes. When you play against someone steady, it can get frustrating."
   Moorestown’s Grace Gertie and Rachel McMahagle topped Dorman and Kasey Reisman at first doubles and Carla Cox and Joanna Leonard showed their senior experience at second doubles against Haughton and Allegra Bianchini.
   The Little Tigers still have a Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division crown to play for this season. PHS has not lost to any CVC teams. Both of their losses came last week — the other came at the hands of Lawrenceville who also defeated Moorestown. The Little Tigers tuned up for their state match with a 4½-½ win over Stuart Country Day on Thursday. Second doubles split with Stuart’s Mercer County Tournament championship team.
   "I was very pleased with (Thursday)," Heyman said. "Second doubles was down, 5-2, again in the second set and fought back to 6-5. They had a shot to take the match but after two tiebreakers and three hours, we decided to call that a split."
   The solid performance by the team, and a solid showing even in Friday’s loss to Moorestown, gives the Little Tigers plenty to build on for the remainder of the year. They may have wanted more, but reaching the final for the second straight year was a significant step for the PHS girls’ tennis team that contended again for the championship in a sectional that elevated its overall competitiveness this season.