South edged out crosstown rival North to win its fourth Mercer County Tournament in the past five years, with the championship coming down to a second-singles match in the final round on October 3 pitting South’s Margaret MacArthur against North’s Jessica Mao.
Mao won the first set, 6-3, but MacArthur recovered in the next two sets, 7-5 and 6-3. The Pirates finished with 18.5 team points; North came in second with 15.5 points.
For South head coach Carla Crawbuck, a tennis coach in the district since 1993, the one-two finish was especially satisfying. All of High School North’s current tennis players — boys and girls — have come through the ranks under her tutelage since she is also the tennis coach at Community Middle School.
This year Crawbuck sees her South team as pretty equal from top to bottom as almost all of her players had just one loss through eight matches before the start of tournament play. “Belinda Ji is our veteran. She’s doing so well and competing hard, with just one loss,” Crawbuck said.
Singles 1 and 2 have led the way for South, as Ji and MacArthur each had records of 7-1 heading into the Mercer County Tournament.
But newcomer Caroline Zhou has also made an impression on West Windsor-Plainsboro’s godmother of tennis. “She played one more match than everyone else (with nine instead of eight) but she is a good one to watch out for, especially as a freshman now. Her ground strokes are her strengths and her only weakness is inexperience, but that will change with time,” Crawbuck said.
Zhou and freshman Varna Kodoth are the new girls who are playing up to their potential. One is 8-2 and one is 7-1 in second doubles, and her one loss was in three sets. That is not too shabby,” Crawbuck said.
“Princeton is going to be very hard to beat. They’re competitive and that’s the only team that I could see matches going either way, yet I am confident with our team’s performance so far,” she said.
Kodoth plays second doubles with veteran Ivy Kang, and Crawbuck said that pair has brought an added weapon to South. Kang played first doubles last year but the second doubles team from last year — Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi — are in first doubles now.
“They are together again and they are stronger. They only had one loss and that was in three sets to Princeton, so they are 7-1 also,” Crawbuck said.
Looking ahead in the brackets and to a North-South clash on Friday, October 12, Crawbuck says North will be a tough opponent. Six of North’s players — Nyambe Tuscherer, Jessica Mao, Danika Baskar, Arielle Bosworth, Nanase Koike and Ranjitha Vasa — were all under Crawbuck’s wings when they were middle-schoolers.
“They all played the top spots because three years ago we had 12 on JV and 12 on varsity. Danika and Jessica were two of the girls on varsity and others were on JV. I know every girl, so when they come to play us it’s a little challenging for me. I’ve known those girls from two years before their varsity coach even knew them,” Crawbuck said.
At North Coach James Vance is a newcomer to WW-P’s ranks but he is from the area, having grown up in Yardley and eventually playing tennis at the College of New Jersey from 2005 to 2008. While an undergraduate, Vance began his career in tennis instruction at the Hopewell Valley Tennis and Swim Center on Titus Mill Road in Pennington.
After starting out with WW-P as a substitute teacher and JV coach for the boys at South last spring, Vance took on new roles as the head coach for girls at North and a fulltime job as a sixth grade social studies teacher. “I’m very impressed with their enthusiasm, level of professionalism, and team chemistry — not just the varsity but the JV as well. I think it was huge coming into the season with that team dynamic, especially because a coaching change could have made it difficult for them,” Vance said.
Vance was looking forward to getting in some more one-on-one coaching in with players. “I have to pick my spots and see who needs me. A lot of times with the more experienced players I will give them something to work on and I know they will work on it,” Vance said.
The coach described third singles player Danika Baskar — one of two seniors on North’s team — as a “very cerebral” tennis player. Vance is proud of her because many players who are physically gifted don’t have the same the mental focus he sees in her, especially after working through a number of minor injuries. “As I understand she played number one last year. She’s a really high-level player and very good on the court, but she is a very good team leader as well,” he said.
Vance added that Baskar is now a more well-rounded tennis player because she has had to adapt to playing differently to lessen the impact of her injuries.
Vance is impressed with North’s doubles. “Our second doubles team (juniors Koike and Vasa) played first doubles last year. Our first doubles team is made of two sophomores, and I’m very impressed with their chemistry as a team,” he said.
The sophomores, Michelle Lee and Arielle Bosworth, were both on the squad last season, and Vance said Bosworth was very close to being a singles player this year.
Vance said the main objective on his new job so far has been to get the players to the point of analyzing their own game so they don’t necessarily need his assistance. “I want them to know how to diagnose what’s going on technically and then how to construct a game plan tactfully. We always talk about being technical and tactful, and they have done a very good job of that so far,” he said.
#b#2012 Mercer County Tournament Scores#/b#
South (8-1). Round 1, October 1
Singles 1, Belinda Ji, 6-0, 6-1; Singles 2, Margaret MacArthur, 6-2, 6-3; Singles 3, Caroline Zhou, 6-0, 6-0; Doubles 1, Sanjana Ravi & Angela Li, 6-2, 6-2; Doubles 2, Ivy Kang & Varna Kodoth, 6-0, 6-0.
Round 2, October 1
Singles 1, Ji, 6-3, 6-2; Singles 2, MacArthur, 6-2, 6-3; Singles 3, Zhou, 6-0, 6-0; Doubles 1, Ravi & Li, 6-2, 6-0; Doubles 2, Kang & Kodoth, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.
Semifinal, October 3
Singles 2, MacArthur, 6-2, 6-1; Singles 3, Zhou, 6-1, 6-3, Doubles 1, Ravi & Li, 6-3, 6-4,
Finals, October 3
Singles 2, MacArthur, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Third Place, October 3
Doubles 2, Kang & Kodoth, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
North. Round 1, October 1
Singles 2, Jessica Mao, 6-0, 6-1; Singles 3, Danika Baskar, 6-1, 6-0; Doubles 1, Arielle Bosworth & Michelle Lee, 6-3, 6-4; Doubles 2, Ranjitha Vasa & Nanase Koike, 6-1, 6-2.
Round 2, October 1
Singles 2, Mao, 6-1, 6-0; Singles 3, Baskar, 6-2, 6-0; Doubles 1, Bosworth & Lee, 6-3, 7-5; Doubles 2, Vasa & Koike, 6-0, 6-0.
Semifinal, October 3
Singles 2, Mao, 6-3, 6-3; Singles 3, Baskar, 6-2, 6-0; Doubles 1, Bosworth & Lee, 3-6, 4-6; Doubles 2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7, (5-7).
Finals, October 3
Singles 3, Baskar, 6-4, 6-1.
Third Place, October 3
Doubles 1, Bosworth & Lee, 6-2, 6-2; Doubles 2, Kang & Kodoth 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
