By Maria Riegel, Special Writer
The South Brunswick High School’s boys’ varsity tennis team put together a clean sweep victory at the GMC tournament April 27-30 going 5-0 in their singles and doubles matches, according to head varsity tennis coach Nancy McDonald.
This is the team’s third consecutive GMC win.
The team competed against J.P. Stevens, East Brunswick and Edison and won three singles matches with freshman Dylan Karchere-Sun, junior Nikhil Roy and junior Rohan Bhatia.
The team also won a doubles match against J.P. Stevens and Edison with juniors Jagannadharao Buddhavarapu and Alberto Nieli and the second doubles match against Edison with senior Daniel Shapiro and junior Arun Chockalingam.
”The team definitely has highly skilled tennis players,” Ms. McDonald said. “The team is one big unit. The players are friends on and off the court and they always want to come out and play their best every match.”
This year the team has four returning seniors and eight underclassmen combining for a total of 12 players.
According to Ms. McDonald, Mr. Karchere-Sun, a first singles player, has strengthened the whole team lineup and took over the first spot which helped the team significantly this year at GMC’s.
Ms. McDonald said that even though Mr. Karchere-Sun is a freshman, he is a high quality player because he defeated all the returning juniors at tryouts and practices.
”Dylan’s match was definitely the toughest,” Mr. Roy said. “We were all unsure at first because he is young. He had to prove himself. I was in that same position too and there is a lot of pressure on you.”
Ms. McDonald said that the three singles players, in general, always strive to excel because they are playing individually.
Two of the returning juniors and singles players, Mr. Roy and Mr. Bhatia have won their GMC tournaments for the past two years.
According to Ms. McDonald, it is a big accomplishment for the team to win their matches against schools like J.P. Stevens, East Brunswick and Sayerville because they have always been the team’s biggest competitors. They have the most skilled players and are fairly large schools Ms. McDonald said.
”The boys are always motivated and work very hard,” Ms. McDonald said. “They have been together for three years and a routine has been created. It shows them what is expected.”
The team captains, Mr. Roy and senior Akul Bali both agree that the team chemistry between the players on the team has greatly improved.
”It felt good to win another GMC,” Mr. Bali said. “We know our team is really solid and we can focus on winning with other teams that are in other divisions. During wins or losses we are always together.”
Ms. McDonald said that over the three years she has coached the same group of boys, she has seen a significant improvement in their confidence and maturity.
”The confidence and maturity in tough situations, where they have been able to overcome things, develops when they win,” Ms. McDonald said.
Freshman players Kooshul Jhaveri and Vivek Subramani both agree that even though they did not compete at GMC’s, the upperclassmen and team captains set an example on how they must perform.
”They showed me they could handle pressure well and when to step up and be at the top of their game,” Mr. Subramani said.
Both captains and Ms. McDonald would like to still win the State Tournament.
The team’s goal is to get the finals of their section; Central Jersey Group 4, which is the toughest out of all the New Jersey sections, according to Ms. McDonald.
At this point the team ranks the seventh best high school tennis team in the state, and they strive to become number one.
”I would like to see our team win states,” Mr. Roy said. “Our team is ready and has the potential to make that big leap.”

