North sets up CJ IV quarterfinal match with South
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Anoop Patel and Sanandh Ravu don’t feel any extra pressure from playing in the Central Jersey Group IV state tournament.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North second doubles team cut its teeth in its first match together against Hopewell Valley following the Mercer County Tournament.
”I felt a little bit anxious just to see how we would play in our first match,” said Patel, a sophomore in his first year of varsity. “After a couple matches, we were able to play more in sync with each other. We knew we developed chemistry and that would help for the matches to come.”
The Knights have come to depend on their bottom of the lineup, and nothing has been more dependable than their doubles. Lev Gedrich and Karan Rajput were winners at first doubles, Patel and Ravu won at second doubles and Vasishta Kalinadhabhotla won at second singles as the Knights pulled out a tight 3-2 win over Hunterdon Central to open the CJ IV sectional Friday.
”We had a bit of a rough start, but we kind of brought it together,” said Ravu, a senior. “We got our flow and started playing like we usually do.”
The Knights advance to take on rival and third-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South. The Pirates swept Monroe, 5-0, Friday. The sister schools square off today in the quarterfinals while fourth-seeded Montgomery hosts fifth-seeded Marlboro after shutting out Old Bridge, 5-0.
”I feel like we’ve showed how well we can play in the past,” Ravu said. “All we really need to do is play our best and adapt to situations that South will present. They’re a really good team, but I think we’re prepared for whatever they can throw at us.”
The Knights haven’t beaten the Pirates in two matches this year, but they drew closer last time, from a 4-1 defeat in the opener to 3-2.
”What’s been very encouraging for us is as we’ve played them, we’ve gotten the match closer and closer,” said Knights head coach Albert Paulsson after improving to 13-5. “We started the season with a 4-1 loss. Then we were able to capture three titles out of five at the Mercer County Tournament. The last time we played South, we played them very tough and lost to them, 3-2. We got it even closer. Hopefully we beef up the confidence and just give it our best shot, not be tentative.”
The doubles tandems do have confidence, and the Knights expect Sriram Bapatla back in their lineup after he was ill for their state opener. Bapatla began the year partnered with Patel, but won a challenge to move to third singles and flip-flop with Ravu, who has more than three years of varsity experience.
”Sophomore year was my first major year as a doubles player,” Ravu said. “I learned a lot from my partner and with all the matches we played. I think it’s really helping me and Anoop right now.”
Patel has fit well into the lineup. He’s lost just once in doubles action this year, early in the year to South Brunswick.
”It’s been definitely a good experience,” Patel said. “I grew as a player as well, learning about different tactics within the game. It was a good positive experience to look back on.”
He and Ravu are hoping they can draw on all the experience and confidence that they have gained in the last weeks together to help pull off an upset of WW-P South.
”From the doubles side, we have confidence,” Patel said. “In the regular season, we won against the second doubles and against them in the county tournament. We’ll have to see if we can get a singles match won. It would be a fantastic win if we could execute this.”
It would mean even more to a group of seniors that include Gedrich, Kalinadhabhotla, Rajput, Ravu and Aditya Koppikar, a senior who filled in for Bapatla on Friday. Ravu thinks this year’s Knights have as good a chance as any he has been a part of to top South.
”It’d be great,” said Ravu, who will play club tennis at Rutgers University next year. “It’s been a very, very long time, as I understand it, since we did that. As a senior, it would be a great way to go out. It would set an example for the underclassmen who are going to fill our roles.”