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PDS girls’ tennis wins Prep B

Hun reaches A finals

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Both Elena Bowen and Brittany Christian promised to return next year for the Princeton Day School girls’ tennis team.
   The graduating seniors will be there in spirit, but won’t be able to help the Panthers on the court in the same way they did by giving PDS a sweep of the doubles flights on its way to the Prep B team championship Thursday.
   ”It’s great,” said Bowen, who teamed with Samantha Schaeffer to win the first doubles flight that clinched the team title. “I’m going to come back next year and visit and hopefully see them win more titles.”
   First-singles’ Samantha Lieb guaranteed that the Panthers could do no worse than a tie when she cruised to victory, but PDS needed one more flight to separate itself from runner-up Ranney. They got two more when the doubles swept.
   ”It’s amazing,” said Christian, who was victorious with Ariel Multak at second doubles in a stirring comeback. “I’m so happy. I’m sad because it’s the last time I can play. Winning as a senior is the culmination of all tennis. It’s the best. It’s awesome.”
   Added PDS head coach Patty Headley: “All we had to do was win two, and winning three was a bonus, especially the way they won it. It was just awesome.”
   Christian and Multak put an exclamation point on the win with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Ranney. Ranney led in the third set, 5-2, before the Panthers duo won the next five games.
   ”They had a match point,” Christian said. “It was 4-5 and they had a match point in one of the deuce games, and I was so nervous. Everyone was watching and that was awesome. It was just if we lose one point, they have it. We just fought.”
   Added Multak, a sophomore: “I don’t even think I was breathing. When it was 5-all, I think we knew we could do it. I think we just cut down on the unforced errors. We were focused and just tried to put the ball back where they weren’t.”
   Last year, Bowen and Schaeffer reached the Prep A finals while playing together before losing to Lawrenceville. The PDS pair was happy to return and win this year.
   ”There are strong schools in both Prep A and Prep B,” Bowen said. “We didn’t have to face Lawrenceville so we were happy about that.”
   Facing Lawrenceville was a task left up to Hun. The Raiders sent all five flights to the Prep A finals on Wednesday, but in a repeat of their regular-season match, Lawrenceville came away with the wins and the team title.
   ”I was very pleased with how the girls played both on Sunday in order to reach the finals, and on Wednesday,” said Hun head coach Joan Nuse. “I thought we played some of our best tennis of the year between those two dates.”
   The Raiders, who are 9-3, finish the season with matches against Notre Dame on Wednesday and Hill on Friday. They graduate just two seniors, Maura Giordano from first doubles and Mary Chiarello of second doubles. All three singles could return as they give chase to Lawrenceville again.
   ”I have been happy with how successful the team has been this year,” Nuse said. “We had a losing season last year and have definitely turned that around this year. We will obviously miss Maura and Mary next year. They have given us good experience at doubles that we will have to work to replace next year.”
   For PDS, Thursday’s team championship was its first since it won the Prep B crown in 2002. They too aspire to be back in the finals, and to win again.
   ”We’re going to have a strong team next year,” Multak said, “so we’ll try to do it again.”
   Bowen and Schaeffer held the lead throughout their match and only tightened up a little when Ranney rallied to make it 5-4 in the second set. PDS won the next game to clinch the team crown.
   ”I definitely think the nerves got to us,” Schaeffer said. “The first set wasn’t easy. We had to play really good and stay strong. We couldn’t let our guard down.”
   Neither knew that at that point — as the second doubles was playing a third set – the team title rested on their win. Both agreed afterward that ignorance to that fact was best.
   ”We never played them,” Bowen said. “We didn’t know what to expect. We just knew we had to play our game, be aggressive, do our net play and hope it turned out well.”
   PDS started Thursday’s finals with a big edge on the rest of Prep B. All five flights reached the finals for the Panthers, which contributed to the crowning moment. Lieb was the first to finish, dropping just a single game on her way to her first state flight crown.
   ”She always has an A game,” Headley said. “We know we can always depend on her to bring her best game. She had a very good opponent, and her score didn’t reflect how well her opponent played, but she didn’t have a chance.”
   Neither did the rest of the Prep B field. The Panthers showed strength and depth with a determined effort that resulted in the team title and a happy send-off for its seniors, who were scheduled to play one more match against Ranney on Monday to decide the Patriot Conference championship.
   ”It’s so wonderful,” Headley said. “Our team is really like a family, and we couldn’t have won this just by everybody thinking it’s all about them. They basically share this 100 percent. There isn’t anyone on this team that’s more important than the other one. You can’t hinge everything on one person. You have to make sure everybody else knows that we’re all depending on them too.”