By: Rich Fisher
HAMILTON TWP. Najeeb Hussain went from a second singles player to a second-day player in the NJSIAA State Singles Tennis Tournament.
The South Brunswick High senior whose entry into the states had to be petitioned to the NJSIAA after he went undefeated at second singles by the cutoff won his first two matches at Veterans Park on Saturday before falling to 3rd-seeded George Laffey of Ridge in Sunday’s third round at Mercer County Park.
While any first singles players with a 60 percent winning percentage by the cutoff automatically makes states, a second singles player must be unbeaten and then petition to qualify.
Hussain proved that the powers that be made the right choice by defeating Buena’s Anton Kivenko, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round, then topping Franklin freshman Matt Araneta, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
"In the beginning of the season, I didn’t think I had a chance of even getting to states," he said. "But as I went through my matches and remained undefeated in the first eight, I thought ‘Yeah, I’m good enough to make it this year.’ So I just wanted to go out and give it all I got."
In his first-round match with Kivenko, Hussain had to gut it out as he was admittedly sluggish for most of the match. Still, he managed to win in straight sets.
"I had, not such a difficult opponent, but I was kind of down on myself because I was so sloppy and making a lot of unforced errors that I don’t normally make," the senior said. "But I kind of stuck with it and I pulled it out in two close sets."
After a 90-minute break on the hot day, Hussain inexplicably came out flat against Araneta, who had to go three sets to win his first-round match.
The freshman, perhaps riding the momentum of his victory, posted a 6-4 win in the first set and went up 2-0 in the second before Hussain finally found his footing.
"I couldn’t get in any rhythm whatsoever," he said. " My forehand, I couldn’t time it right, my footing was sloppy and I was just like, exhausted.
"In the second and third set I kind of found some energy, got a little motivation and decided to put 100 percent effort into it. I didn’t want to lose. And the clouds really helped. I was dying in the sun. It got a little cooler and I stepped up my game."
In advancing to Sunday, Hussain got as far in the states as any Viking under McDonald. Despite the loss on Sunday, he was happy to have the chance to play Laffey, who had a first-round bye before winning 6-0, 6-0 in his second-round match.
It means a lot to get this far," Hussain said on Saturday. "I really wanted to win, I’m really excited to play the next round. I’m just gonna go out and give it all I got. I really wanted to come out with the win today so I could play him."
"Najeeb was fortunate in the draw, not get a seeded player in the second round, although that player he played was pretty good," coach Nancy McDonald said. "Being a second singles player, the competition is a notch above what he’s used to seeing, so he did a nice job."
The Vikings other singles qualifier was first singles Arjun Sapra, who ran into a tough first-round opponent in Baris Aldamaz. The Pope John player had just one loss entering states, and posted 6-0, 6-1 victories before moving on to win his second-round match as well.
"I knew he was good, unfortunately I didn’t know what to expect," Sapra said. "I came out, I struggled through it, unfortunately it didn’t work out that well. He’s a good player.
"All I knew about him is he was a transfer student from Turkey. I figured since he came from Europe he played on clay. I knew he was going to be a grinder, which is exactly what I got."
Aldamaz was somewhat unique in that he served right handed but volleyed as a left-hander.
"I haven’t played a lefty all year except in our first scrimmage against Holmdel," Sapra said. "It was a little strange.
"Serving-wise it was OK. If you play a lefty and he serves a lefty it’s tougher. When he served righty it was to my benefit, but hitting lefty strokes it was tough, especially because he had a really powerful backhand, that was better than his forehand. I tried to attack his forehand more, but he was more consistent. I was just basically outplayed."
Despite his short stay, the Rutgers-Newark-bound senior enjoyed his first visit to the states.
"It was a good experience," the candid Sapra said. "I’m happy I qualified and made it this far. Last year I was second singles so I’m just glad I made it to first singles.
My goal was to make states, at least, so I’m happy I qualified for the tournament because I know a lot of people didn’t. It was just a good experience to watch all the people play. Different people coming in from hours away, just coming to play a match."
In doubles play, Nikhet Khanna and Arjun Kumble won by default into the second round, where they were pitted against Holmdel’s Jon D’Agostino and Donald Encinas. The Shore Conference duo took a 6-1, 6-0 victory, but it was a nice experience for both Viking players.
For Khanna, it provided some experience should he returns to states. For Kumble, it was a nice going away present after he finally made varsity his senior year.
"Nikhet got to see what it’s like there and he might be back so that was nice for him to get a taste of it," McDonald said. "Arjun was a baseball player who had an injury his sophomore year, so he came out for tennis. He got some good experience on the JV but never had any varsity competition. He jumped into the first doubles spot and got to states, which says a lot about him and Nikhet."

