By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
In its most intense matches through recent years, it’s largely been the depth of the West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys tennis team that has carried it.
Millburn beat the Pirates at their own game a they won the bottom three flights first on their way to a sweep of WW-P South for the Tournament of Champions title Thursday at Mercer County Park.
”We knew they were good,” said Pirates senior Nikhil Gavai. “We knew they were better at the doubles than any other position. We just thought that we could have beaten them. It was about the doubles today. Whoever won the doubles, won the match. They took it home.”
WW-P South’s three seniors all play doubles, with Peter Ku partnered with sophomore John Hu at first doubles and Gavai and Mike Herrelle at second doubles. It was the first loss for the Pirates, who finish 21-1 after reaching the TOC final for the first time since 2000.
”I’m not sneezing at it,” Herrelle said. “I think it’s great that we got this far. It’s just bitter. It’s bittersweet that we got to the state championship, which we haven’t gotten to in 12 years, which is great for the team, but I’m not happy about losing.”
Said Gavai: “We were hoping to keep that record clean and not have any losses. At the end of the day, we can’t do anything about it. They were the better team today.”
It was also the first loss of the year for their second doubles team. After losing the first set, 6-1, Gavai and Herrelle things looked up in the second set when the Pirates opened a 4-1 lead.
”We were coming up to the net more,” Herrelle said. “We were trying to use our strengths to our advantage because he’s a great volleyer and I’m a great groundstroker. We tried to keep the points consistent, but they stepped up their groundstroke game. I could barely battle back with them so he couldn’t volley and put it away. Things we’re usually are in sync about, we weren’t.”
Millburn rallied to win the next five games to close out the match in impressive fashion. It was their second point of the day, after the first doubles team stopped Hu and Ku with aggressive play at the net, 6-2, 6-1.
”They were probably the best second doubles team we played this year, but we had lots of opportunities,” Gavai said. “We were up 4-1 in the second set, and they just played better at the right moments. That made the difference at the end of the day.
”We’ve been down a set before against West Windsor North and Holmdel, but we always come back. We’ve been in a similar situation as today, but we weren’t able to play well at the right moments.”
It was like that on a lot of courts. Millburn wrapped up the win when Dean Koman finished off the Pirates junior Daniel Vaysburd in straight sets. Fellow junior Thomas Weng fought through two long sets, but fell to Millburn’s Robert Xia at second singles, 6-4, 6-4. Michael Song was the lone Pirate player to win a set. The sophomore won the first set before cramping in his legs sabotaged his chance for victory. He lost in three sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
”I would have loved to have won this thing simply because I know how painful it was to lose in the state final,” said Pirates head coach Richard Arnold, who lost himself to Millburn as a high school player. “They are a factory of tennis players. The northern tennis teams are good. We overachieved. I can’t complain. We won seven matches to get there.”
The Pirates had gone through South Brunswick to win the sectional. They had to top Livingston on their way to the Group IV state title. And they had to upset Delbarton to reach the TOC final.
”Everybody meshed together,” Arnold said. “They all came together. Everybody has their little differences. They meshed and came together as a team. Once we beat Livingston, they saw we’re pretty darn good and they said, let’s continue the mission. It would be nice to beat Millburn, but we beat Livingston.
”I think we overachieved,” he said. “All those teams are great. Delbarton is a great team. Livingston is a great team. I can’t get greedy. I have to be realistic.”
The previous wins had set up the Pirates for a shot at the state title. They’d missed in their five previous trips from 1996-2000.
”We were really confident going into the match because we had so much momentum from the other matches,” said Herrelle, who is considering playing at Drexel University or The College of New Jersey next year. “We were doing so well, and we were the underdog and we still bested a lot of the really, really good teams here. So we had a lot of confidence going into this match.”
The Pirates knew they were an underdog, but still felt like they had a chance at the win. Millburn, though, took control early.
”We definitely felt we had a chance,” said Gavai, who will attend Duke University next year. “Millburn came out here today ready to play and they deserved today’s win. They’re really good.”
The Pirates also proved to be one of the top three teams in New Jersey this season. They will lose three-quarters of their doubles players from this year’s squad.
”I’m going to miss the seniors,” Arnold said. “We still have our singles lineup and John Hu. He may battle for singles. We’re still going to be pretty good. We have to figure out the doubles. Our No. 1 team won’t be as credible as this year’s team, I don’t think. Peter Ku played some darn good tennis. I’ve seen him for four years. He’s improved drastically with his hand skills.”
WW-P South’s wins got more impressive in the final weeks, and they pushed the program to its first TOC final in more than a decade. Last year, they didn’t make it out of Group IV.
”Our team really came together when we came this far,” Herrelle said. “We’re really close now. I’m so happy as captain the way my team played. We all gave it 100 percent. They gave it 110, but we can’t say we didn’t try our best.”
When the sting of Thursday’s TOC loss settles, the Pirates know they will be able to reflect back on a season that saw them go to the final match in states before they found a better team.
”The team was awesome this year,” Gavai said. “Everyone pulled it out whenever we needed to, against Livingston, against Delbarton, against Holmdel. It’s a great season. Even though we lost today, it was one of the most memorable seasons in South history. It was great.”
