Edison tennis advances to state tourney by winning last match

BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer

It was a must-win situation for the Edison High School boys tennis team when it faced North Brunswick last week. Heading into the match, Edison’s record stood at 5-6 with the cut-off date for state tournament eligibility staring it right in the face.

“There was a lot riding on that match,” Edison head coach Wesley Smith said. “We simply had to beat them. We knew our chances were good despite losing to them 3-2 in our first meeting. When we lost to them earlier in the year, it was a quiet bus ride home because we lost a good opportunity to get a win. They had a number of players quit since that first meeting, something like three players left, and we took advantage.”

Edison pulled off a 4-1 win as No. 2 singles player Varun Trivedi avenged an early-season loss to North Brunswick’s Anand Desai to lead the Eagles to victory. Trivedi lost the first match in three sets but needed just two in the rematch, and he beat Desai 6-3, 6-4.

“Varun is my warrior, and he was looking forward to this rematch,” Smith said. “He played really well and stepped up his game when we really needed him to.”

The win put the Eagles into the North Jersey 2 Group IV State Tournament as the No. 8 seed,where they disposed of Irvington in the opening round with little trouble.

At No. 1 singles, Edison’s Alex Li cruised to victory over Irvington’s Lloyd Jones while Trivedi served up a pair of goose eggs in his 6-0, 6-0 win over Kenneth Jackson. At No. 3 singles, Edison’s Ankit Patel beat Wendy Orleans 6-1, 6-0.

The No. 1 doubles team ofAbhi Shenoy and Karan Nijhawan thwacked Irvington’s Bramwell Rigby and Cris Solomon 6- 1, 6-0. At No. 2 doubles, Vimal Desai and Nikhil Khare beat Paul Crawford and Frantz Mirrasaint 6-0, 6-0.

“We did extremelywell,” Smith said. “We knew we’d probably be seeded somewhere between No. 7 and No. 9, and we were hoping to get in a match before playing a No. 1 or No. 2.We got our wish and now we get to play defending champsWestfield.”

The two teams were scheduled to face off at Tamaques Park in Westfield yesterday. Westfield entered the week unbeaten.

“Westfield is the class of boys tennis in the state of New Jersey,” Smith said prior to Tuesday’s match. “I don’t think they lost anybody from last year’s team, so they should be in top form.We’ll give it our best shot, but we know it will not be easy.”

After the Westfield match, Edison will square off against Ranney today at 3:45 p.m. before closing the week with a May 15 match against Raritan and a May 16 meeting with Metuchen.

Also looming on the horizon is this season’s doubles state tournament. The No. 1 doubles teamof Shenoy and Nijhawan used lastweek’s impressive 6-3, 6-4win over East Brunswick’s Max Rebarber and James Di- Betetto to qualify for the event.

“Those guys have been playing out of their minds lately,” Smith said. “Qualifying for the state doubles tournament is a great accomplishment for them. They’ll find out who they go up against some time this week.”