By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys tennis team has some lofty goals for later this season. But they managed to check off one of their first and most important goals on Wednesday when they wrapped up the Mercer County Tournament title in convincing fashion., The Pirates swept the singles flight and also picked up a win at first doubles. Sarirta won the first singles flight with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Nolan Shah of WW-P North. Robert Siniakowicz won at No.2 singles and Alex Yang won at third singles. Akul Telluri and Andre Hsueh picked up a win at first doubles and Chiru Koiloth and Aditya Ravi were second at second doubles., “It is great to succeed with the team because everyone is supporting you and you are doing it for more than just yourself,” said Sarita, who won his second straight title at first singles. “Our depth helps us get better every day and if one of has a bad day there is always someone to pick us up., “This tournament is always a great experience. They run it well and we have had a good run here at the tournament. It’s always fun to come out here and play this tournament.”, Sarira won the third singles title as freshman and then lost in the first singles finals as sophomore., “It is all about improving,” Sarita said. “Every year you come you want to do better than the last year. I feel like I have been doing a good job of getting better every year., “It feels great. There are always a lot of good teams in the draw so to come out here and defend it is a good feeling. I just had to strong strong and execute my game plan. I used my momentum to play better and get the bigger lead.”, The Pirates are 10-1, with only a 3-2 loss to Montgomery blemishing their record. The county title is the first step in what they hope will be more titles down the road., “The icing on the cake would be if (Sarita) can win the whole thing and our team could win the whole thing,” South coach Richard Arnold said. “If we get everybody playing this could be our best team at South.”, WW-P North finished second and came into the final day with a chance to overtake the Pirates. The Knights won the second doubles flight with Aditya Bemby and Siva Kuppa, while taking second place finishes at first singles (Nolan Shah), third singles (Nihal Sidhu) and first doubles (Sai Koritela and Martin Long). Arjun Krishnan was third at second singles., “We’re very satisfied,” WW-P North coach Albert Paulsson. “South is obviously a powerhouse but we played very good tennis and we were very competitive. To finish second, we feel good about that. We’re a young team with people in nee positions and they are gaining experience and confidence., “This was a tremendous experience for them and hopefully these experiences will help them realize how far they have come this season. There is still a lot of tennis left to be played.”, Princeton Day School finished fourth Lex Decker at first singles, Liao and Nye finished third at second doubles., “Our No. 1 had a tough day,” PDS coach Will Asch said. “He didn’t have his best stuff, but I was happy he came back and competed well in the match for third place. He gave it everything he could. Second doubles was down 3-4, love-40 and they came back and broke and closed out the match, 6-4, so that was a good win for us at second doubles., “South is so deep. I think our kids learned a lot and they know they have to improve to compete with the top teams. We have Prep B in May and that is always our top tournament every year.”, Princeton finished sixth, earning a third place from Simon Huang at second singles and a fourth at second doubles., “Everyone is working hard,” Princeton coach Sarah Hibbert said. “We have lost our two big guns this year at the top of the lineup so everyone else has had to step up and work hard as a team and they have done so. We pulled out a great win over Hightstown last Friday, even missing Simon. Everyone else pulled together and we won three third sets and pulled out the win. Everyone is trying their best. We’ve lost more than we have in the past but everyone is giving their best and that is all you can ask., “You always get better experience facing strong players. Our goal is to win as many games as you can and when that goal leads to winning matches that’s fantastic. As long as you know you have fought as hard as you can there is nothing else you can do.”, Hun finished in 13th place and did not have a flight reach the semifinals.
