Pirates win at third singles, first doubles
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
SOUTH BRUNSWICK – For the second straight season, the West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls’ tennis team lost a 3-2 decision in the Central Jersey Group IV final.
The Pirates, who lost to Montgomery High School last year, fell to senior-laden East Brunswick on Thursday by the slimmest of margins.
“It was tough. When I saw five seniors in their lineup, I kind of worried, how are we going to get through this?” said Pirates head coach Carla Crawbuck. “We did much better than I thought. I was really, really happy. We’ve only got one senior. We’ve got a couple sophomores and two freshmen. They don’t have any.
“It makes a world of difference because it’s like the different age levels when you’re playing in tournaments. You’re playing the bigger girls with more experience.”
The Bears’ second doubles tandem of Kristina Kouznetsova and Sabrina Shee outlasted Amanda Stanton and Mallory Wang, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, to decide the match. East Brunswick’s Stef Balasa and Sonia Tsay also won at first and second singles in straight sets over Ammu Mandalap and Sahana Jayaraman respectively.
“It went down to 4-6,” Crawbuck said. “They just made the shots. They just put the last few shots away. They deserved it. They’re a good team.
“I heard comments that this second doubles was really, really impressive on this team,” she added. “First doubles, to me, was impressive too. It’s hard. They have depth all the way down the line.”
The Bears also beat WW-P South in 2001 for the sectional crown. The Pirates last won a CJ IV championship in 2000.
WW-P South picked up its first win Thursday from Lesley Norris at third singles, 6-3, 6-3, over Mallory Highstein, and the Pirates’ first doubles team of Larissa Lee Lum and Annie Scharfstein rallied to beat Margo Testa and Marina Tsay, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3, moments after the match had been decided.
“I played the girl who played first doubles, Margo, in a really tough match last year,” Norris said. “I was a little apprehensive. I figured I would just go out and try to play the way I usually play, which didn’t really work out for me. It was a tough match and I was playing tentatively.”
Norris was the lone Pirate player to win in last year’s sectional final and in Thursday’s final. Highstein didn’t make it easy in a match that looked closer than the score.
“She was really good,” Norris said. “She had a good serve. I haven’t seen a serve like that before with the spin. And she got a lot of balls back that I wasn’t expecting. There were a couple points where I turned my back because I thought the point was done and then she got it back.”
East Brunswick improved to 13-2 on the season and advances to the Group IV state semifinals. The Pirates fell to 13-1 heading into Friday’s match against Princeton High School. The Pirates still lead the Colonial Division of the Colonial Valley Conference, and with just Scharfstein exiting due to graduation, have plenty of firepower returning to aim for the sectional crown next year.
“This won’t happen again with this group of girls,” Crawbuck said. “I can guarantee this won’t happen again unless they get some real recruits coming in. It was a matter of two games and with these girls coming back, I don’t think it’ll happen again.”
Added Norris: “It’s definitely possible. We definitely can win next year. We’ll be back.”

