Li, Ravi enjoying final year with WW-P South girls tennis
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi are in their fourth year as doubles partners for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South girls tennis team.
The seniors are trying to soak in every second in their final season representing the Pirates.
Li and Ravi have been able to fall back on their experience as the Pirates have gotten into their busiest time of the year. WW-P South is in the midst of the Central Jersey Group IV state team tournament for which it is the top seed. At the same time, Li and Ravi are entered in the on-going state doubles tournament.
”It’s been really stressful because you’re playing a really good team every single day,” Ravi said. “There are no breaks. But we got lucky with the weather. So we got a break.”
Li and Ravi may have been some of the only people rooting for a rainy weekend. Rain on Saturday meant the state doubles tournament was pushed back a day, and it allowed Li and Ravi to stay in the tournament. They would have had to withdraw because of a conflict Saturday with the SATs. Rain pushed back the doubles for a day, and they continued their unbeaten march.
Last Tuesday, Li and Ravi were convincing 6-2, 6-2 winners over eighth-seeded East Brunswick in the quarterfinals of the CJ IV team tournament. The Pirates needed the point for a 3-2 win that enabled them to keep alive their sectional title hopes. Last Friday, the pair was pressed in the second set but came away with a 6-2, 7-5 win in the Pirates’ 4-1 victory over fourth-seeded Marlboro.
After a day to score as best as possible on the SAT, the two were back together on the court for the state doubles tournament. On Sunday, the eighth-seeded duo started their day with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ana Trajanovic and Anavi Anand of New Providence. Li and Ravi followed it up with a 6-3, 6-1 third-round win over Siena Cashan and Andrea Giacobbo of Moorestown. It propelled them to the quarterfinals, where they picked up a 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 14-12 win over Millburn’s second doubles team of Rebecca Blevins and Ingrid Waung.
”I think during our sophomore year, we went to the quarterfinals and lost to Millburn,” Li said. “The fact that we beat Millburn today was a huge feat for us. In the beginning, we were a bit nervous. It’s Millburn. They’re a powerhouse.”
With the win, Li and Ravi advanced to the semifinals where they were scheduled to face second-seeded Emily Roeper and Kim Szakats of Montgomery High School on Wednesday. Li and Ravi are the second lowest seeded doubles team to reach the semifinals. They were unbeaten on the season as of Monday.
Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi are the Princeton Packet Athletes of the Week.
”With Sanjana and I,” Li said, “it’s our last year at South and as part of the team, we want to go farther than ever have before, and we accomplished that today.”
It certainly wasn’t easy. It took a super tiebreaker to advance to the state doubles semifinals. There have been high level tennis matches every day with the pressure to keep the team alive and to keep themselves alive in two different tournaments.
”For the team tournament, we always know our team is behind us and they’ll be supporting us and cheering us on,” Ravi said. “For the doubles tournament, it was just Angela and I and we had to support each other so it was a little more difficult for us.”
The two have come up with the winners when they needed them. It was particularly hair-raising against Millburn because the Pirates pair faced four match points.
”Each time we’d get very nervous,” Li said. “We weren’t thinking, ‘This is it.’ We weren’t letting the pressure get to us. We were just trying to keep it going until we got the point and in the end that worked out for us.”
It was in the tiebreaker situation when the experience of the Pirates came to a head. It’s a match they wouldn’t have — and didn’t — win in years past.
”Last year, I believe we lost to South Brunswick in a tiebreaker in a third set,” Ravi recalled. “Today, when we played our tiebreaker, we knew what we did wrong last year and we tried not to make the same mistakes.
”I think they had three or four match points. It was so scary. I think it was Angela (that made the difference). She kept me calm. I usually get really nervous. I usually make a mistake, but she got my back and we kept going.”
Li and Ravi might have more matches together than any other doubles team in the state. Each match is another chance to gain more experience, and contend with another situation.
”The week before, we played (Dwight-)Englewood,” Li said. “They’re all tough matches. The schools that go to the states are all good teams.”
The state tournament play Sunday didn’t start the way they would have wanted, but they finished strong to gain momentum for their Millburn matchup.
”On Sunday, in the beginning, we kind of lost our rhythm and we got it together when we needed it and we ended up winning both matches because of it,” Li said. “We started kind of slow. During the warm-up, we both felt it wasn’t as good as it could be. We pulled it off after we realized we were losing.”
It helps that they have played so many times together and are close off the court as well.
”Just staying positive (helps),” Ravi said. “If we lose the first set or second set, we always take the next set as a new whole game. We never think of it negatively. We always go out there and just have fun. We can’t really yell at each other because we’re best friends off the court.”
Wins over New Providence and Moorestown built their confidence in each other going forward into their deepest run in the doubles tournament. Li and Ravi were able to show their versatility in two different matches in one day.
”Against New Providence, we both kept our service game early,” Li said. “We knew we had to break at some point to win. We ended up breaking. We got more confident at net and that helped our game.
”Against Moorestown, we played better. We played differently. We adapted to the style of our opponents. Usually when we play a match, we look at what we’re doing wrong and see what we could do to pass our opponents and that’s usually why we win.”
The win over Millburn topped off a terrific seven days of tennis for the long-time partners. They are heading toward their final matches together on a high note.
”I think we’re playing better as a team now because we’ve understand each other better towards the end of the month,” Ravi said. “Every game is giving us more confidence. Today’s win has given us more confidence. We lost to Millburn last year and it was hard on us. Today proved we can do it and achieve more.”
The Pirates at the same time are looking to help WW-P South in the state team tournament. Hunterdon Central on Tuesday was a new challenger for them.
”I feel like our team is doing great,” Li said. “Even though we lost a lot of good players and third singles got injured for a week, our team is able to get through each round. And now we’re in the finals against Hunterdon Central.”
Added Ravi: “We’ve never played this team before so we don’t know what to expect. We know they’re a really good team and we have to play our best.”
The Pirates are hoping that they have saved their best for last. They have already won their second straight Mercer County Tournament first double title, and reaching deep into the team and doubles tournaments provided two more opportunities at making it an even more memorable season.
”It means a lot because it’s our senior year and we won counties,” Ravi said. “We’re just seeing how far we go. We’re just trying to make the best of everything.”