Lee’s addition helped WW-P South girls advance
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
June Lee was happy to earn a win at second singles in her first Group IV state tennis championship.
But the West Windsor-Plainsboro South freshman would have been willing to repeat her sectional final frustrations if it would have meant a state team title for the Pirates.
”I thought we could win,” said Lee after the Pirates’ 3-2 loss to Westfield in the Group IV final Wednesday at Mercer County Park. “I wanted to win. It would have been nice, but it’s OK. It’s good that we tried our best.”
Lee bent the only racket that she brought to the CJ IV title match when she ran into a metal column and was the only one to drop a match in the 4-1 win over Montgomery High. But against Westfield, she was the first to win a flight for the Pirates before their first-doubles tandem of Sahana Jayaraman and Larissa Lee Lum captured a three-set win to finish the match.
”June did have a nice win,” said Pirates head coach Carla Crawbuck. “She’s only a freshman. That’s something that’s going to carry over to next year. Unfortunately our seniors are the ones that lost. I would have liked to have that win for them.”
The Pirates lose only two seniors from their top seven — Lesley Norris, their third singles player for the last three seasons and Amanda Stanton, who was at second doubles for the last three sectional championship trips. WW-P South will return first-singles Ammu Mandalap, the first doubles team and Mallory Wang, Stanton’s partner. They will be gearing up for a return trip to the Group IV final.
”I think it gives us more confidence,” Lee said. “We know we can get this far.”
Lee helped them to reach the Group IV final for the first time since 2000 when they lost to Livingston, 3-2. Lee is the lone freshman in the Pirates’ top seven.She came in not sure what to expect in her first year of high school tennis. She was just hoping to be high on the Pirate ladder.
”I wanted to be at 1,” Lee said. “Ammu and I are good friends and we see each other at tournaments. We’ve played each other before. I know I had a chance, but Ammu is really good. I tried, and second singles isn’t bad either.”
Not when it is Lee at the second singles spot. Her only losses this year came against Montgomery’s Rachel Pierson, Princeton Day School’s Samantha Asch and in the state singles tournament to eventual semifinalist Gina Li of Hillsborough. Until Wednesday’s loss, Lee’s addition had helped WW-P South win all of its previous 24 matches.
”It made the team stronger,” Crawbuck said. “I don’t even know if we would have gotten this far without her on the team, I really don’t. There are only seven spots on this team and it really helped our team. We might have won the section, but I don’t think we’d have done as well as we have this year.”
Lee was part of the Pirates’ 5-0 win over South Jersey champion Atlantic City on Wednesday morning. She followed it up with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Westfield’s Tara Criscuolo in the afternoon.
”I had to be really consistent, but I also attacked when I needed to,” Lee said. “Her serve was really good so I had to make sure I returned well. She is a really good player. I had to make sure I was moving and was consistent.
”These two matches today were definitely a lot higher level than some that I have played,” she added. “The girl I played in the morning hit the ball really hard.”
Jayaraman and Lee Lum also had a strong win. They faced a Westfield team that had been top-ranked for the state doubles tournament before the Pirates knocked them off in the third round. Westfield won the first set in a tiebreaker, but the Pirates answered by winning the next two sets. WW-P South just couldn’t find a comeback in its other three flights.
”They just couldn’t get the third point here today,” Crawbuck said. “They were just stronger at the bottom. We just need a little more strength in the team.”