Three flights win for PDS girls
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
For the trio of Princeton Day School girls tennis team seniors in the starting lineup, it was a dream finish.
Mary Atkeson, Samantha Asch and Allie Persky helped to lead the Panthers to the Prep B state championship Thursday at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison to cap their scholastic careers.
”It was awesome. It was amazing,” said Atkeson who teamed with junior Charlotte Zaininger to win the first double flight. “It’s always great as a senior to win your last match of the year and also the whole tournament. That was great. It was so much fun. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
It’s the second major tournament the seniors have won in the last two years. Last year, the won the Mercer County Tournament before finishing second in the Prep B tournament.
”Last year, we won the Mercer County and I got third place and that was really great,” Atkeson said. “This year, I think the Prep B tournament was the best since everybody made it through to the second round. Everyone played well.”
Asch repeated at first singles with a win over Krishna Patel of Gill St. Bernard’s, and PDS freshman Renee Karchdere-Sun won the second singles flight. Emily Dyckman reached the final at third singles, and Persky and her partner, freshman Devika Kumar, reached the finals at second doubles.
”For me personally, the goal is always to win preps and counties,” said PDS head coach Ed Tseng. “Last year, we won counties, but not preps. This year, we won preps and not counties. I thought if we give our full effort, I like our chances.”
The Panthers were quite confident that Asch and Karchdere-Sun would win, but needed one more flight to feel secure that they could hold off Wardlaw-Hartridge, which sent four flights to the finals. Atkeson and Zaininger knew that their second doubles had been defeated, and they wanted to come through for the team.
”We had a really good strategy,” Atkeson said. “We kept each other upbeat the whole time. She’s a great partner. We get along really well. I’ll miss her next year.”
Karchdere-Sun and Dyckman, a sophomore, will return for the Panthers next year, along with a partner from each doubles team. They will be trying to maintain a high standard set in a year in which PDS went 10-3 in the regular season.
”I think we had a really good team this year,” Atkeson said. “Renee came in and she’s amazing. Emily Dyckman is amazing at third singles, and we have some people coming up next year that will be great too. We had a great team this year.”
PDS capped its season with the prep title, its second in four years. The Panthers won the Prep A crown in 2009.
”It’s always gratifying winning a title, whether preps or counties or a regular match,” Tseng said. “Going into it, we had Samantha, Mary and Allie Persky, it was their last match. It’s nice to see them win it.
”It’s a team effort. It’s emotional. For probably all except Samantha, it’s probably their last match of their career. I was very happy that they could get the team title in their last season.”