By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
After some early growing pains at first and second singles, Edward Rodianov and Viraj Desai are starting to pick up the pace, while third singles Niket Khanna keeps going at an impressive pace.
The result was a three-game winning streak for South Brunswick High’s tennis team, as they rolled past North Brunswick (5-0) last Wednesday, St. Joe’s (5-0) Friday and Piscataway (4-1) this past Monday.
That lifted the Vikings record to 5-6 overall and 5-3 in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division. SBHS is still hopeful of gaining a state tournament berth, and must be at .500 or better by Tuesday, and their latest binge has provided momentum entering the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.
The most encouraging signs were the play of Rodianov and Desai. After going winless, Rodianov won three straight, coinciding with the team’s win streak.
”It’s good for him to get on the winning track, he’s playing better, getting more confidence,” coach Nancy McDonald said. “He’s staying in the points longer and keeping his head in the game a lot better and not blowing easy things that he was doing in the beginning.
”It was sort of like he was rushing too much. Now he’s a little more mature in his match play and it shows.”
Bhatia also won three times during the winning streak after struggling early with just a win over Edison. Still, the coach feels he can get better.
”He’s playing very close matches,” McDonald said. “He played a 7-5 7-5 match against someone of equal ability, and he’s just keeping his head above water. I’d like to see him be a little more decisive in his wins, but he’s a sophomore, he’s still improving.”
The good news is that with the first two spots in the lineup winning, it takes pressure off third singles and both doubles to win every point.
Khanna has been winning despite any possible pressure, having put forth a strong enough effort to be seeded third at the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, which began Wednesday.
”Niket been carrying us at third singles,” McDonald said. “He’s been the solid point, pretty much.”
Rodianov was not seeded, Desai is seeded eighth, while the doubles teams Balaji Suthursanum-Nick Dau and Skanda Amarnath-Varun Reddy are both fourth seed.
”We’re looking to represent ourselves well and do as best as we can against a variety of different competition that we’ll see,” McDonald said. “Monroe and Sayreville are the top teams coming out of the White, so I guess we’ll have to see where we fit in.”
LOBS: The JV team is 6-1, and his been led by the first doubles team of Darshan Raj-Darshan Sangeni.
