Sophomore leads PDS to second
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Samantha Lieb is no less of a tennis player this year than she was last year, but the wins haven’t come as easily at the start of her season.
The Princeton Day School sophomore lost only once last year — by injury default — but had two losses already coming into the Mercer County Tournament. She quickly proved to still be the best at the MCT by winning the first-singles championship for the second straight season.
”It definitely boosts my confidence,” Lieb said. “I was kind of low on confidence because I had two losses already. It’s nice to win.”
Lieb, who lost in the regular season to nationally ranked Olivia Walton of Hill and Emma Levy of Lawrenceville, again barely lost any MCT games in marching to the title match, which she won, 6-3, 6-1, over Hun’s Kara Shoemaker.
”I think she played a splendid match because I also believe that Kara Shoemaker played a splendid match,” said PDS coach Patty Headley. “Nobody handed anybody anything.
”I think it’s really cool that a freshman wins the Mercer County Tournament at first singles and then comes back the next year for a repeat performance because there are so many talented players around. I haven’t seen that kind of power since Angela DiPastina and Alexis Jacobi. That was really amazing.”
Lieb credited off-season work on her speed and conditioning as well as a renewed focus on hitting aggressively for her continued improvement. She has had to improve to stay ahead of players aiming to take away her title.
”I didn’t have a reputation last year,” she said. “This year, there’s so much pressure to win.”
Her title Wednesday keeps her on track for a rare four-year run at the first-singles championships.
”That’s definitely my goal, to win all four,” Lieb said, “and hopefully not to lose any sets. I can’t help that. I just have to work on my game.”
Lieb’s first-place finish earned PDS five points on the Panthers’ way to a second-place team finish behind West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Lauren Constantini was third at second singles, Nicole Keim was third at third singles and Brittany Christian and Ariel Multak finished third at second doubles. Elena Bowen and Samantha Schaeffer reached the semifinals.
”We all came to the semifinals which is a big thing for us because we never did that before,” Lieb said. “It was really good for the team. We wanted first place, but second place is just as good.
”We have a really strong team this year,” she added, “and hopefully it’ll just keep getting better and better. I think it gives us a lot of confidence in the later matches. I think we’ll have a really good season.”
Seven-time defending champion Hun was third. Shoemaker was second at first singles, Beatrice Falk was second at second singles and Natalia Arenales reached the third singles semifinals. It wasn’t enough for the Raiders to pull out an eighth team title.
”I don’t think any of these kids were in middle school when we started it,” Hun coach Joan Nuse said of the streak. “You can’t expect to always win. It’s not a reasonable expectation to expect you to win year in and year out, especially when there are such a number of deep teams out there. It would be one thing to dominate if there weren’t any strong teams. But this was a pretty balanced tournament.”
Princeton High School finished tied for fourth with Hopewell Valley. Rachel Bergman and Keely Herring finished second at second doubles. Sarah Cen reached the first singles semifinals.
”Overall, from our girls I saw a lot of good things,” said PHS coach Sarah Heyman. “We’re a young team. This is the first time that five of the girls have even been to this tournament. Hopefully we can use the tough matches we had this tournament to get stronger heading into states.”
Just behind in sixth was West Windsor-Plainsboro North. The Knights duo of Deesha Sarma and Sara Hoge was second at first doubles. Caroline Chang reached the first singles draw-back final.
”I think they should feel very satisfied with what they achieved in the tournament,” said Knights coach Albert Paulsson. “We have a young team. A lot of positions we have some newer people, so this has been a great experience.”
Stuart Country Day finished 11th. Alex Abad won the first-singles backdraw final.

