At 14-6, hoping to tie the school’s regular season win record at 17 and still in pursuit of its sixth straight Patriot Division title as of Oct. 21, the Hopewell Valley girls’ tennis team is approaching the end of another consistent, solid season. Led by seniors like captains Amanda Brancato, Aisha Zamir and Dakota Silver, the Bulldogs spent another year as one of the most routinely dependable squads in the county, and head coach Dave Burchell said he couldn’t be more pleased.
“This is a really clutch team,” he said. “We have a strong tradition of success, and it’s nice to coach girls who are willing to push themselves. I’m in my 41st year coaching, and this might be the best team I’ve seen. I can’t say enough about them. I’m very pleased with this.”
He was particularly pleased with Silver, a three-year varsity player and two-year captain who started out at doubles but has been playing singles since her junior year. At second singles, she was tasked with stepping up a slot after Brianna Shvets injured her finger and had to bow out of her first singles spot prior to the Central Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals against Hightstown. While Silver lost the match, the squad as a whole won 3-2, advancing to the semifinal against Princeton, where its run eventually ended.
But Burchell said Silver’s poise was unmatched, playing three of the top four players in the county during Shvets’s recovery period.
“She had to step back into her old role,” he said. “We really relied on her as our most experienced player. It’s never easy in a circumstance like that, but she gave it her best, and win or lose, she really is a tough competitor. I wish every player could have her stamina and willpower.”
Zamir, said Burchell, is just as tough, even if he teammates sometimes tease her “about being too nice to her opponents.” After a winning season at second doubles last year, she moved up to first doubles in 2014. And Brancato remained one of Hopewell’s most versatile players, moving out of the second doubles spot after some lineup changes and never turning down a chance to help the team.
According to Burchell, though, their off the court activities are some of the pair’s biggest contributions to the team.
“Aisha and Amanda display those attitudes of cooperation, inspiration and determination,” he said. “Beyond that, it’s doing their psychs [dressing up along with a theme on match days] and organizing snacks. They set a standard.”
Now, though, those vets are getting ready to pass the reins down to two powerhouse freshmen in Shvets and Marissa Liu.
Shvets has been among the top players in the county since middle school, currently ranked in the USTA’s Middle States 16s top 10. This year, she advanced to the Mercer County Tournament first singles final, where she was defeated by Princeton’s Christina Rosca — still quite a feat for a freshman.
“Brianna’s been huge,” Silver said. “She’s known across the state, and she’s helped us win a lot of tough matches.”
And Liu, Silver added, was just as valuable.
“We always knew about Brianna, but Marissa came through, and she’s helped us through matches that we might not have won without her.”
Their enthusiasm to be on the varsity courts, said Brancato, has also been essential to the team. They’ve only added to the Bulldogs’ seemingly endless positivity.
“They’re both really strong players, but it’s also their personalities,” she said. “They’re always really happy, and they’re excited to be here. They’re freshmen, so for them, everything’s new and exciting. It’s kind of weird that as a senior, this is my last time doing everything, but for them, it’s their first.”
And that’s why Zamir has high expectations for the future, even after she and her classmates are gone.
“It changed the lineup completely from last year, but it was a change for the better because we ended up doing really well this season,” she said. “They meshed really well with us, and it gives us hope that we’re going to have a good chance the next few years. They’re still here for another three years.”
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