Raiders finish fourth as team
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
BRIDGEWATER Steven Wu was in middle school the last time a Hillsborough High boy won a major tennis title at the first singles position. He remembered when Thomas Kinrade prevailed in 2005 and hoped to someday join Hillsborough’s short list of tennis champions.
Wu ended the school’s four-year drought by capturing the first singles crown at Sunday’s Somerset County Championships at Green Knoll. The HHS junior stuck to his game plan and showed mental toughness to overcome the heat and a very talented opponent from Bridgewater-Raritan. Wu became Hillsborough’s first county champ at first singles since Kinrade with a 6-1, 7-5 triumph over top-seeded Andrew Weeden.
”The Wus and the Kinrades are still very close,” said Steven Wu, whose brother John was Kinrade’s teammate at HHS. “All the tennis players in Hillsborough are close. After he won, I really looked up to Tom and wanted to do the same. One of my goals was to win a county championship.”
Wu had to defeat Weeden for the second time in 11 days to accomplish his mission. Weeden seemed poised to avenge a recent three-set loss by breaking Wu’s serve on the first game of the match. Wu responded by sweeping the next six games to take a quick first set in just over 30 minutes.
The second set turned into a thriller. Wu broke Weeden for a 1-0 lead but the B-R senior fought back to take a 3-1 lead. Wu rallied to go up 4-3 but Weeden battled back to win the next two games. It was beginning to look like these two standouts would play a third set, which would push the match past the two-hour mark and into the hottest part of the day.
Wu decided he didn’t want that to happen. After playing smart, conservative tennis for most the match, Wu unleashed a few big-time shots to win the final three games and clinch the match in straight sets.
”It’s the county championship and I was getting anxious,” Wu said. “I knew I couldn’t stay out there much longer. I had to pull it out right there.”
Weeden played much better in the second set after making too many unforced errors in the first. Wu had to battle for his points and did plenty of running around the court.
Wu responded by taking the offensive with his patented backhand shot down the line. He hit two backhand winners in the 11th game on the way to a 6-5 lead a big rip down the line to make it 15-15 and a crushing inside-out shot that stunned Weeden for the final point of the game. Wu blasted another huge backhand past Weeden for a 40-30 lead and match point in the next game.
”He started to elevate his game and he was hitting more winners,” Wu said. “I’m very fortunate to have a very good backhand. I’ve been playing that shot for a lot of years.”
Wu hit a powerful serve on match point and Weeden’s return sailed long of the baseline to end it.
”I just sit here and enjoy it,” HHS head coach Larry Johnson said. “I have to say, it would be cool to be able to hit a backhand like that.”
Johnson gave a few of his pep talks during court changes to make sure Wu didn’t lose his mental edge. The second set had many ebbs and flows and Johnson was happy to see Wu finish the match in two sets.
”You don’t want to play three sets in heat like this,” Johnson said. “He had a game plan and he stuck to it. I wanted him to stay confident and positive. Steven does a great job doing that, even after a bad game or a bad shot. That’s what makes him such a great tennis player.”
”It’s a lot of experience,” Wu said. “I’m fortunate to have parents who didn’t just show me skills, but they also taught me about the mental game. I didn’t want to get yelled at for showing bad emotions and it’s not smart to do that anyway. It’s just years of experience. You just have to hang in there.”
Wu opened the tournament with two straight set victories in Saturday’s session. He defeated John Roser of Bernards 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and knocked out Montgomery’s Michael Goldman 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals.
The rest of the Raiders were eliminated in the quarterfinal round. Mike Zhang dropped a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 decision to Gill St. Bernards’ Zack Bender at second singles and Will Henderson lost a 6-4, 6-1 match to Andrew Graziano of Ridge. The first doubles team of Pawel Mankowski and Evan Clayton was knocked out by Montgomery in straight sets, while the second doubles team of Ryan Kearns and Kyle Gottschalk lost a tough three-setter to Watchung Hills.
Ridge won the county team title with 20 points, followed by Montgomery (17) and Bridgewater (16). The Raiders finished fourth with 13 points.
Hillsborough (4-2) clinched a berth in the Central Jersey Group 4 playoffs with last week’s 5-0 romp over Immaculata. The Raiders were scheduled to face Ridge, Vernon, Old Bridge and Montgomery during a very busy week of action.

