Cougars advance to Group IV state final
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Knowing that their Montgomery High School boys tennis team was depending on them was all that Chris D’Agostino and Kevin Xu needed for motivation in the Central Jersey Group IV championship match Monday.
With second-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South holding a 2-1 lead with wins from John Hu at third singles and Martin Malik and Dan Vaysburd at first doubles, D’Agostino and Xu were looking for wins at the top of the MHS lineup to go with the straight sets win by their second doubles’ Howard Bi and Eric Epp. But as their second sets were winding down, it appeared that the Pirates were heading for another sectional crown.
”It was looking pretty bad for our team,” said D’Agostino, the Cougars junior playing first singles against WW-P South’s Michael Song. After winning the first set, Song held a 4-1 lead in the second set, then 5-3 before he started to cramp and D’Agostino tied the second set, 5-5.
At second singles, WW-P South’s Thomas Weng won the first set, 6-1, over Xu, the Cougars freshman, and he was winning the second set and up 6-5 and serving with a 30-15 lead when Xu rallied.
”In the beginning, he was coming up with every shot and I was making too many errors on my end,” Xu said. “At the end, I changed how I was playing. I was making less errors and I made him come up with some shots.”
In the tiebreaker, Xu led 6-2 early before Weng tied it. Xu held him off 10-8 to win the set.
”When Kevin started playing better, I fed off his play and I got real motivated,” D’Agostino said. “Knowing that our first doubles and our second doubles, we have three seniors playing there, I wanted to give them a good last year in states. I wasn’t going to go down without fighting.”
D’Agostino was awarded a game by the referee after Song took too long to recover on the court after leading 6-5 in the second set with double match-point, and D’Agostino came away with a 7-6 win in the second set. Song could not continue after playing a point in the third set and had to retire to enable D’Agostino to tie the team score, 2-2.
”I was mostly focused on my match,” Xu said, “but I definitely saw Michael cramping. I saw Chris had a chance to win his match and ultimately it would come down to me.”
Xu’s outlook for both him and the team lifted when he saw D’Agostino win and after he forced his own third set with Weng.
”I definitely got more confident as the match went on,” Xu said. “By that time, I realized it had come down to me and I’d have to come through for the team.
”I thought I’ve handled the pressure pretty well,” he added. “My teammates are always out there supporting me.”
They rooted Xu on to a 6-3 third-set win to decide the match, 3-2, over the defending Group IV state champion Pirates, who fell to 20-2 despite another impressive effort. It’s Montgomery’s third sectional title in five years.
”This is by far the most meaningful match for me in my high school career for sure,” D’Agostino said. “I’m sure it’s up there with most of my teammates.”
In the Central Jersey Group III final, third-seeded Princeton High School lost to top-seeded Hopewell Valley, 3-2. Brock DeHaven was a 6-4, 7-5 winner at second singles and Tyler Hack and Zack Kleiman were three-set winners at second doubles for the Little Tigers, who slipped to 16-2. Both of their losses have come against Hopewell.
Montgomery’s D’Agostino had been in the singles lineup the previous two seasons as the Cougars fell just shy of reaching their sectional title match. This year, they fought past South Brunswick, 3-2, then rallied to top WW-P South to add a sectional win to their Somerset County Championship.
”I’ve won the county as a team three years in a row, but this is the first year I’ve made it this far (in states),” D’Agostino said. “The past two years, I’ve been the one to lose that important match in the clutch and down the stretch. It’s a much more relieved feeling and better feeling to have pulled this one out.
”That disappointment from past years definitely motivated me to not feel like that again and try to avoid being knocked out and the one to blame.”
The Cougars advanced to the Group IV state tournament where they cruised by Shawnee in the Group IV state semifinal, 4½-½ on Wednesday morning. Xu, third-singles’ Eckardt, first doubles’ Clark Chapman and Alessandro Sclapari and Bi and Epp all won and D’Agostino split sets. The Cougars fell to top-seeded Millburn, 4-1, in the Group IV final that afternoon despite a win from Eckardt. The Cougars dropped their first match in 19 matches, but were happy to come through with a sectional championship.
”We have pretty high hopes,” D’Agostino said. “There’s three seniors leaving and that’s going to be big next year. This is probably one of our better years to make a deep run.”
There is also a lot of hope for the future with the likes of D’Agostino, Xu and third singles Ben Eckardt back in the singles lineup and Bi back from the doubles lineup. D’Agostino is in his first year at first singles.
”Overall, my mental approach has improved,” he said. “I gained some power with filling out my frame. I started reconstructing my forehand to make it more conventional. It was unorthodox, but it would break down at important times.”
It was a more reliable weapon this year. Xu is the lone freshman in the MHS lineup, and he has benefited from a year of good competition.
”It’s made me get mentally tougher,” Xu said. “You’re doing it for the team and not just for yourself.
”I thought I’d be able to impact it a little bit,” he added, “but not as much as I have so far.”
The Cougar veterans have welcomed the rising star to their lineup. His addition has made them all the tougher.
”I really like Kevin at the No. 2 spot,” D’Agostino said. “He’s very consistent and he performed very well under pressure because he’s been in tournaments before.”
All the returning Montgomery players can benefit from seeing how they bonded together during a championship season. It wasn’t an easy path to the title, but that may serve them well in the future.
”Moving forward, avoiding two really close calls, definitely gives us that experience in pressure moments,” D’Agostino said. “And it gives us confidence when the chips are down we need to hold our heads high and continue to play our game.”