And this year’s Mercer County Tournament champion is . . . High School North?##M:[more]##
Yes. Not only has North’s tennis team battled its way past five-time consecutive champion and crosstown-rival South, as well as usual county powerhouse Princeton, on the way to achieving its first-ever county title, but it has also defeated Princeton again on its way to the semifinal round of the state tournament.
Now that North has built up momentum — and a strong reputation — coach Albert Paulsson says the team has its eyes set on making it farther in the state tournament than the tennis program there has ever gone.
“It was a historic day for the team,” said Paulsson, speaking of the championship his team earned on April 30. “The team has really been motivated this season to do something significant. We felt this upcoming year was going to be a year that we could really do something we’ve never done before.”
Heading into the tournament, the team was confident, and after the first day, ended up in a three-way tie for first with no other than South and Princeton, despite the fact that first singles player Tim Wu was ousted on the first day. The rest of the positions advanced, however.
North, however, took the lead after the morning semifinals when four of its members advanced into the finals. Evan Samet, the team’s third singles player, defeated his Hopewell Valley opponent and took home a gold medal in that category. Jun Yoshitake and Abishy Pandita also took home a gold, winning the second doubles title.
In second singles, Julian Richardson, of South, defeated Brandon Frank for the title, but it was still not enough to overcome North’s 20 points. South finished with 18 points. “All of our positions were vital to us in winning the tournament,” said Paulsson. “We came away with two golds and two silvers. They were tremendous accolades for those guys, even for Brandon Frank, at second singes, and Zach Kurfirst and Sean Lee (silver).”
Now at 9-2, and with a county title under their belts, the Knights are anxious to push their success further with the state tournaments, especially after defeating Princeton handily on May 12, 5-0. “We have some momentum that has carried from the tournament into the season now,” said Paulsson. “We had a great amount of confidence going into the match against Princeton, and we had never beaten Princeton — ever — in the regular season or the tournament.”
Last year, in fact, the team lost to Princeton in the state tournament, 3-2, and “they wanted another chance.”
“They wanted to change that outcome, and (Tuesday) was the opportunity to do that,” he said. “They came in with an attitude yesterday that they weren’t going to lose.”
Paulsson says he believes that the players’ experience has helped them coming into this season, enabling them to develop into bigger, stronger, and faster players. “They basically were able to develop points better this year and find weaknesses in the opponents and work the points so they can set up their best shots when they need to, and that shows a lot of maturity and confidence that you build over time.”
The team moved on to defeat Nottingham on May 13, and was scheduled to face Ocean in the Central Jersey semifinals on May 14, after the News went to press.
What are the team’s goals now? To push forward in the state tournament. Making it to the state semifinal round was the furthest the team advanced last year, when it fell to Princeton. “We had some goals coming into the season — one goal was to win the Mercer County Tournament. The other goal is to win the Central Jersey state title. We’re taking it one notch at a time, and we’re hoping to achieve that as well.”
If the team was successful on May 14, it would head to the finals, which will be held on Tuesday, May 19. See www.wwpinfo.com.
