WEST WINDSOR: Pirates at full strength for title

Girls tennis edges Hunterdon Central

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls tennis team had a feeling it would need Stephanie Ji to win a sectional championship.
   The Pirates were right.
   With sixth-seeded Hunterdon Central winning the top two flights in Tuesday’s Central Jersey Group IV final, the top-seeded Pirates needed Ji at third singles and their doubles tandems to deliver a 3-2 win. It’s the fourth straight sectional championship for WW-P South.
   ”It’s the first time I’ve actually participated in the team winning in a sectional,” said Ji, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Lauren DeSimone. “I was really, really happy when we did.”
   Margaret MacArthur and Kim Wong won at second doubles, and the first-doubles pair of Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi remained unbeaten with a hard-fought three-set win to clinch the championship.
   ”It was stressful,” said Pirates head coach Carla Crawbuck, whose team entered the Group IV state semifinals unbeaten. “(Tuesday) was the most nervous I’ve ever been because of Hunterdon Central. They just beat the No. 3 seed, West Windsor North, who I thought was good, 4-1. Then they beat Montgomery, 3-2. They were just going up the ranks.”
   They could not top a WW-P South team that is just getting back to full strength. Ji only returned from an ankle injury that cost her two weeks last Friday for their sectional semifinal match against Marlboro. The sophomore lost in her return match while still playing with a noticeable limp.
   ”It was definitely like a warm-up,” Ji said. “During the entire match, I realized I need to work on some more. I was still rusty.”
   Ji started the match Tuesday a little slow, but came on for a well earned win to a critical point.
   ”She was good,” Ji said. “I tried hitting angles and hitting it deep when I could. In the beginning I had trouble. I just had to experiment with new things until I found out what worked.”
   Ji had worked over the offseason to fine-tune her game. It was two years ago that her sister, Belinda, was playing at the top of the WW-P South lineup at first singles when they won the sectional crown. Ji has come back stronger for her sophomore year and stepped in at third singles.
   ”My serves and my volleys have definitely gotten a lot better,” Ji said. “The volleys, you can use them for your net game. Whenever I go to net, I’m actually able to succeed and win points. Before I used to avoid the net because I knew I wasn’t good there.”
   Ji is thrilled to have the chance to be back on the court just in time for the biggest state matches of the year. She missed the Mercer County Tournament, but came back with a chance to win some other hardware.
   ”I missed tennis a lot,” she said. “The only time I actually ever watched tennis was when my team was playing. When I saw them playing, I felt I should be out there playing with them. When I got back, it was really exciting.”
   Ji’s ankle held up through Tuesday’s match, though it was sore at the end. She is hoping to continue to fight through some discomfort to improve the Pirates chances.
   ”I was grateful that Stephanie was able to play a great game of tennis again,” Crawbuck said. “She’d been out almost three weeks. She came back and lost to Marlboro.
   ”She bounced right back. That was a win I wasn’t quite sure of. I thought we’d get second doubles, and I thought we’d get first doubles, but theirs was good. They (Li and Ravi) lost a set and figured out what they had to do and who not to hit to.”
   Angela Weng had had a chance to pull off a win in three sets at second singles for the Pirates, but when that point went to Hunterdon Central, it shifted the decisive point to first doubles.
   ”Angela managed to finish before them, so then we were watching first doubles,” Ji said. “We started watching when Sanjana and Angela were up 4-2. We were pretty confident, but it’s still nerve-wracking.”
   It had been 2-2 before the Pirates duo held serve and broke Hunterdon Central. It was the momentum that WW-P South needed.
   ”I knew they had to hold their serve and break them and we’d get a two-game lead,” Crawbuck said. “They tied it up again, 2-all. Then they did get their lead and broke them and were able to relax and get through that.
   ”It was stressful but fun. That’s how it should be for a sectional final. It shouldn’t be one-sided. It certainly wasn’t. It was a good match.”
   And when it was all over, it was the Pirates that could celebrate repeating again as sectional champions, this one after losing their top two singles players, Ji to injury midway through the year, having to break up their second doubles shortly thereafter, but then seeing it all work out by the start of the CJ IV final.
   ”These girls have really, really worked hard,” Crawbuck said. “I’m happy with them. It was one obstacle after another. When Stephanie went out, it was one thing after another. I’m proud of them.”