Wiles, freshmen come up big for Tartans in Prep B championship
By: Justin Feil
No one on the Stuart Country Day tennis team was worried about the youth costing it a championship.
In fact, it was first-year varsity members like Clare Wiles that won for it.
Wiles is one of three freshmen on the Tartans, joining Kelsey Semrod and Comfort Clinton. All three were instrumental as the Tartans captured their first Prep B state tournament since it shared the crown in 2001 when they captured four flights Wednesday at Pingry. All three freshmen helped defeat opponents from Ranney, the runners-up Wednesday.
"I wasn’t there, but last year we only lost by one match so we were quite confident," Wiles said. "We had high hopes for the season. We definitely expected to do pretty well. It was nice that we swept all the matches."
While Kathryn Kitts had to wait a day to wrap up the first singles title with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Gill-St. Bernard’s Christy Pollin, Wiles was the first of Stuart’s three flight winners to finish in Wednesday’s regularly scheduled finals. She polished off a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ranney’s Tiffany Jaw for the Tartans first points in the finals.
"Then I could sit around and cheer for the team," Wiles said. "Especially the second doubles."
After Kelsey Semrod polished off Ranney’s Kathryn Lowrey, the two of them could watch Clinton and partner Laura Patterson rally from a 5-1 tiebreaker set deficit to pull out the clinching win, 7-6 (10-8).
"Second doubles was a cliffhanger," said Stuart coach Dede Webster, whose team is tentatively scheduled to play Ranney on Tuesday to also clinch the Patriot Conference. "They lost the first set, 6-4, and won the second set, 6-4, and the third one went to a tiebreaker. It was a nice win and it was exciting. They certainly were in trouble and managed to pull it out.
"We’ve got Kathryn at the top who is very strong," she added. "And we have depth. Even though the kids are young, they’re good little players. It’s a very cohesive team. The Stuart girls usually put their best foot forward and this team did. It was a wonderful end to the season."
It was a particularly nice ending for a freshman like Wiles. She’d seen the varsity program from afar while coming through the Stuart Middle School.
"I wasn’t sure what to anticipate," Wiles said. "It’s such a tough transition from middle school to high school. We played great schools and we’ve been improving all along. We’ve been doing really well. It’s been fantastic."
Wiles started playing when she was 6 or 7, and the Princeton resident quickly found it to be her top sport. Despite her early start, she had no idea that she would be such an integral part of a championship team in her first year of varsity.
"It’s our first year and we weren’t sure what to expect," Wiles said. "To win it for the first time in quite a few years was really special."
And with Wiles and the two other freshmen returning, along with Kitts, there should be plenty of talk of repeating. Wiles deflects talk of another championship while she enjoys this one.
"We’re just gong to keep on playing," she said, "and we have high hopes for the future."
It helps that Wiles and the younger Tartans proved they could play like the most experienced players around, and they should only get better. That doesn’t bode well for challengers like Ranney, which entered the finals tied with Stuart for the lead with four finalists.
"We never played Ranney," Webster said. "That team was unknown to us. We just went in with an open mind and hoped for the best."
But with head-to-head matchups in three flights, Stuart’s players realized it would likely be up to those flights to decide the championship.
"I think there was quite a bit of pressure," Wiles said. "We wanted to win it. We knew if we won the singles and doubles matches against Ranney, we’d have quite a good chance."
And with players like Clare Wiles in a young but talented lineup, Ranney never had a chance to top the Stuart tennis team.