Panthers’ Martinovic wins No. 2 crown
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Heading into her Mercer County Tournament second singles final match, Maria Martinovic couldn’t help but to think back to last year for a second.
The Princeton Day School senior had reached the final last year as well but came up short. She put that behind her Wednesday as she stopped West Windsor-Plainsboro North’s Audrey Chen, 6-2, 6-2, for her first MCT crown.
”It feels great,” Martinovic said. “Last year, I lost in the finals and it was a really tough match, so it feels great.”
Martinovic was the top finisher for the Panther girls for the second straight year since transferring from the Lawrenceville School. Lawrenceville did not play in the MCT, and she has relished the chance to compete on this stage.
”It means a lot, especially since it’s my last year,” Martinovic said. “It’s definitely a great thing. I love this tournament. A lot of good players come and there are a lot of good matches.”
Martinovic has seen plenty of tough matches in just two years at the MCT. She was happy to persevere this year and overcome Chen, who had defeated her in the regular season.
”I think I did play differently,” Martinovic said. “Last time, since it was the first match, I ended up playing her game. She hits very hard and deep so I was just kind of playing her game which didn’t suit me. I came into today saying, I’m going to mix it up, give her some high ones, give her some angles and make her lose her composure and not let her stay in her strategy.”
Martinovic is playing with more confidence than she was at the start of the year. She came into the MCT as the fourth seed and took the title, the lowest seed in the MCT to do so.
”I think that I’ve done a lot of good things,” Martinovic said. “In the beginning of the season, I actually played the same girl I played now and I lost to her. In the beginning of the season, I was a little scared and anxious about it. Now I’ve settled in and we’ve been in practice working at some things that I wasn’t so good at. Now things like my serve that was totally unreliable for me are working for me. It’s good.”
Martinovic won the key points to pull away from Chen. Martinovic showed her maturity in dealing with the pressure of the moment. She handled it better in her second time in the finals.
”Last year’s match was also very close,” Martinovic said. “This year’s was close, even if the score doesn’t look like it. There were a lot of long points.
”I think that I did a really good job of even when I would lose a point early, I really wouldn’t get down on myself and I would play in the moment,” she explained. “I would think, I’m going to hit this shot deep and I managed not to think about the big picture and just think about each point individually. I think that definitely helped a lot.”
The Panthers finished fourth in the team standings with 21 points, a half-point behind third-place WW-P North. Rene Karchere-Sun was third at first singles for the second straight year. The senior stopped Sneha Rangu of Hightstown, 6-4, 6-1, in the consolation final. PDS’ first doubles tandem of Devika Kumar and Touria Salvati was a 7-6, 6-2 winner over Nora Binder and Arielle Bosworth of WW-P North in the consolation final.
”I’m happy with the way they played,” said PDS head coach Ed Tseng. “The only thing I really look at is effort level, and they all fought hard. Several of the matches could have gone either way, unfortunately they didn’t go in our favor this time. We came back today with some good wins.”
Martinovic’s was the highlight of the day for the Panthers. They were happy to come away with at least one individual crown.
”I’m very happy with the way Maria played this year,” Tseng said. “Today alone she played two great matches. She stayed tough. We’re very happy to have her on the team and happy to have her finish her career on a high note.”
Tseng sees his team as capable of doing well in all of its flights. It’s what enabled it to finish high Wednesday.
”This is one of the deepest teams I’ve had in the past few years,” he said. “We had a nice win over Haddonfield, a tough loss to Montgomery, but that was our only loss so far. Everyone is playing well. Our first doubles beat second doubles in a three-set challenge match, so they’re very close as well.”
Said Martinovic: “I think we’ve been playing really well as a team and in this tournament, we’re all very good competitors. We push ourselves in practice. Overall, the team dynamic is great. We’re all close. It’s great.”
The Panthers are hoping that will pay off as they get into their final tournament, the Prep B state tournament. PDS is the two-time defending champions and with a deep lineup this year, they are confident they can retain the title.
”We won the past two years, so I think we have a good chance to three-peat,” Tseng said. “But we’re not getting too confident. We’re focused on playing well and if we do, I think we have a good chance.”
Martinovic would love to end her scholastic career with another tournament flight win, and she’d love to be a part of a Panthers championship again before she turns her attention to her future.
”I’ve been looking at a lot of D3 schools and some coaches have contacted me,” she said. “I’m not sure where yet I want to go. I saw a lot of schools I like. I definitely want to keep playing tennis.”
Second-place finishes by Chen at second singles and Amanda Binder at third singles highlighted WW-P North’s day at the MCT. The Knights placed third with 21.5 points. Their second-doubles team of Michelle Lee and Ruchi Vyas won their third-place match over Hun’s Olivia Hartman and Nina Yao, 6-3, 6-3.
”I think this was good for us to get ready for states, and I think we still can improve,” said Knights head coach Rich Arnold, whose team was scheduled to open the Central Jersey Group IV state tournament against Manalapan on Thursday. “I think playing good teams under pressure, this is what they need. This is why we went to the Moorestown Classic and played Moorestown and Haddonfield.
”This is even tougher —there are tougher teams. This will be a learning lesson, especially for our third singles player who had to play a lefty. No one plays a lot of lefties with big topspin forehands. It was a good learning experience for her.”
Binder and first doubles suffered just their first losses of the season. While no one likes to lose, Arnold believes it will be helpful in the state tournament.
”We’re going to play some very good teams,” he said. “Tennis is a funny thing. You learn from your mistakes and why you lose. Hopefully it helps you as you go on.”
Hun placed sixth overall with 16 points. The Raiders were led by their second doubles tandem of Olivia Hartman and Nina Yoo, which lost to the top seed from WW-P South in the semifinals before finishing fourth.
Stuart Country Day came in tied for ninth with 8.5 points. The Tartans’ Caitlyn Delaney reached the semifinals of the backdraw at third singles.