Pirates hand WW-PN 4-1 loss
By: Justin Feil
Neither new West Windsor-Plainsboro High South head boys’ tennis coach Jim Giovacchini nor WW-P North head coach Albert Paulsson was exactly sure what to expect from the Pirates when their teams met Monday in the season opener.
The Pirates had lost their top two singles players from last year, forcing several young players to move up in the lineup and two completely new doubles teams.
Rumors of their downfall, however, were greatly exaggerated. The Pirates put together an impressive 4-1 win over WW-PN to set an early tone.
"They’re very much still alive," said Paulsson, whose squad faces Hamilton 3:45 p.m. today. "We went in knowing that South is always a strong opponent. They’re a very talented team. They all work well together. Each player contributed for them. We didn’t play badly. They just won more."
The Pirates got wins from Benny Gordon-Goldstein, who moved up from third to first singles this season; Eugene Vaynberg, who played first doubles last year, at second singles; Arif Poonawala, who was Vaynberg’s partner last year, at third singles; and, the first doubles team of Chris Tuan and Brian Lee, a combination that never played a match together last season. North’s Eric Thurston and Wayne Jenq captured the second doubles point.
"We had a great match," said Giovacchini of his first win as WW-PS head coach. "It was real competitive. The score makes it look like we won pretty easily, but early on it looked like it was going to be 3-2.
"I had never seen North play. I knew they had everyone coming back and I knew they had a great coach. I’ll admit I was nervous. I wasn’t sure how my guys would handle the pressure. I never saw so many people and so many reporters at a match."
They all came to see how the new-look Pirates are shaping up early, and how close North is to cracking in among the traditionally elite teams. Though high winds forced players to be more cautious, no one in attendance, least of all the WW-PS fans, was disappointed by the level of play.
"I thought everyone, even our second doubles, played exceptionally well," Giovacchini said. "I think it’s a good barometer to how the rest of the season will go. I was really pleased with how they handled the conditions."
South will try to continue its early Colonial Valley Conference mastery when it faces Allentown 3:45 p.m. today. Giovacchini is hoping for a little kinder weather conditions.
"My No. 2 and No. 3 have big back swings," he noted. "It takes some good control to play that way in all the wind. It’s not always the better team or the better player that wins in wind. You have to keep it on the court."
The Pirates found a way to do that, much to the delight of Giovacchini. The win settled some early fears after a preseason that wasn’t entirely long enough to have him confident about the Pirates’ opener.
"In the beginning of the preseason, I didn’t think it was going that well," he said. "We had 46 kids come out. I never had to make that many cuts before. I wanted to be fair, and I cut the team down in three cuts. By that time, a full week had passed. I felt like I didn’t get to work with my top guys more than once. Then it started to roll.
"I still had five or six guys battling for doubles positions. It came down to right before the season before all the doubles teams were settled in."
And after just a week together, Giovacchini wasn’t sure what he would get out of his inexperienced doubles pairings, let alone his singles lineup in which everyone was playing a new positions.
"I was a little worried about my first doubles because they haven’t been together at all," he said. "One is a sophomore on varsity really for the first time ever and the other guy, Chris Tuan, is up from second doubles and he wasn’t that successful last year. He’s changed his game though and they played well. They’re improving every day. That should be a pretty solid first doubles team. I was really impressed with (North’s) second doubles. They looked very good."
It was the highlight of the Knights’ match as the tandem of Thurston, who played first singles last season, and newcomer Jenq took the first set, 7-6, before capturing the second set convincingly, 6-1.
"We had a nice surprise at second doubles," Paulsson said. "In the other matches, our guys had some good points and some good games. They just had more. It’s still a learning experience. We’re taking each match and putting it in our memories.
"We’ll see them at counties. We just have to take it one match at a time. We’ll get better."
Both South and North were rained out of their Wednesday matches. For WW-PS, it meant the showdown with Lawrence will have to wait.
"They’re looking forward to that matchup," Giovacchini said. "We wanted to play it. If the rain had held off, they were ready to go."
They had already answered the doubters once. Monday’s win was a big step toward proving that they are just as capable of staying atop the CVC this season. And there will be plenty of other chances to leave solid impressions with other opponents.