WW-P South tennis falls just short in final

East Brunswick eliminates Pirates in CJ IV

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   SOUTH BRUNSWICK — The West Windsor-Plainsboro South girls’ tennis team lost for the second straight season in the Central Jersey Group IV final.
   The Pirates expect a different outcome if they make it back to face an East Brunswick team that will graduate five seniors while WW-P South loses just first-doubles’ senior Annie Scharfstein next year.
   ”This won’t happen again with this group of girls,” said first-year Pirates coach Carla Crawbuck, whose team slipped to 13-1. “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.”
   The younger Pirates lost for the first time this season, 3-2, to East Brunswick on Thursday. WW-P South beat East Brunswick in the CJ IV semifinals by the same score last year before falling to Montgomery High School in the finals.
   Thursday, third-singles’ Lesley Norris picked up WW-P South’s first point after the Bears won at first and second singles. With both doubles flights splitting sets, East Brunswick’s second doubles clinched the match with a 6-4 third-set win just moments before Larissa Lee Lum and Scharfstein won the Pirates’ second point.
   ”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.
   ”It’s tough,” Norris said, “but we did as good as we could have done. We’re proud of them anyway.”
   Added Crawbuck: “I’m disappointed, but not as disappointed as I thought I’d be. At first, I took a look all the way down the court and I said, their singles are still in the state singles tournament. Our singles are out after the second day. Lesley played a very good player. That could have gone either way. I didn’t expect her to do so well. Four-six in the third set isn’t too bad. We’ll settle for that.”
   Norris was the lone Pirate player to win in last year’s sectional final and in Thursday’s final. Her opponent, Mallory Highstein, didn’t make it easy.
   ”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.”
   Norris has become a given win at third singles, regardless of her opponent, even when it gets to tournament time.
   ”It’s really exciting,” the lanky junior said. “The Mercer County Tournament was really exciting and this is just as exciting. It’s more fun because you’re playing for your team and that gives you extra motivation.”
   For players like Norris who have been through back-to-back sectional final losses, there won’t be any extra motivation necessary come next year’s state tournament. WW-P South is looking for nothing short of a title.
   ”It’s definitely possible,” Norris said. “We definitely can win next year. We’ll be back.”