BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI
Staff Writer
Now that his college tennis season is over at St. Peter’s College, sophomore Jonathan Pimentel of Brick will spend a few days rooting on younger brother, Chris, in doubles and his old high school team at Brick Memorial.
“I worked with him during spring break, and he’s doing awesome in doubles,” said Jonathan. “It’s great because he’s a soccer player, not a tennis player, and he’s one of the best goalies in the state. He did it to stay in shape.”
The older Pimentel sibling said he also is gratified seeing his high school alma mater qualify for the NJSIAA Tournament after spending many years as one of the lower teams in the Shore Conference standings. Brick Memorial is tied with Toms River North for second place in A South going into the week’s action.
It’s a departure from the frustration he and his St. Peter’s teammates endured in a winless spring campaign. Playing through injuries that included wrist problems early in the season and then a sprained ankle over the closing weeks of the season, Pimentel only once extended his match to a third set in a winless spring at fourth singles and third doubles. The one consolation came late in the season when his former doubles partner and fourth singles player Mike Mastromonaco returned after sitting out a few weeks with vertigo.
“We had so many illnesses and injuries from the start that cut us down to four people for our lineup, so I had to tough it out,” said Pimentel. “We were giving up two points [without fifth and sixth singles players] right from the start. And then, some matches we didn’t even play.”
One thing that was working for him was a serve that resembled the one by his tennis idol, Andy Roddick.
“My serve is still solid. Thank God I had that,” said Pimentel. “I had 95 aces, not like the 154 of my freshman year. But I changed up my serve to different ways of doing it. I may not have always gotten the ace, but it helped lead to points.”
Pimentel says he learned some valuable lessons from losing as he went from a 5-4 record in fourth single in the fall to 0-8 in the spring. St. Peter’s, which was 2-3 in the fall, lost all 10 matches in the spring.
“To know how to win, you have to lose,” he said. “And I didn’t prepare for the spring like I did for the fall. It was harder to get court time and I slacked off, and that made it hard in the spring. I took too much time off [after the fall season]. And I didn’t lift weights enough like I do now. With the recruits coming in, I’m going to work my butt off over the summer to get ready for the fall.”
In fact, two of the recruits coming in are from Texas and train at the Newcombe Academy near San Antonio. Pimentel says he has arranged to meet with and stay with one of the recruits, who lives right near Newcombe, over the summer to train there for a few weeks.
“With the way it looks with some of the recruits coming in, I’ll have to fight for a spot next season,” said Pimentel.