Tennis has always been one of the most dominant sports as far as North and South are concerned, and the Pirates proved that yet again this season. At 24-1, South won the school’s first Group 4 state title since 1999 with a victory over Hunterdon Central and advanced to the Tournament of Champions before being ousted in the semifinal by Holmdel, 3-2, the team’s only loss of 2014.
And to think all of that happened without last year’s first and second singles players. Claudia Siniakowicz and Haley Rich, who occupied the squad’s top spots in 2013 as underclassmen, opted not to return just before the start of preseason, and head coach Carla Crawbuck was forced to make some changes, like moving Caroline Zhou up from third singles to first.
“Just like that, we already dropped down,” Crawbuck said. “Caroline thought she would be third, but the first day of preseason, she realized she was going to be number one.”
But Crawbuck said Zhou and the rest of the team rose to the occasion after the shakeup. After ending its last two state tournament runs on close calls, South finally captured the title this year.
“It was amazing,” Crawbuck said. “It felt good, but it took a lot of work. This isn’t like the MCT or the conference title. It’s a real, real task to do it.”
Senior doubles team Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi anchored the team, as well as Zhou and the second doubles tandem of Kimberley Wong and Margaret MacArthur – who went undefeated on the season and, along with Li and Ravi, won their Tournament of Champions match.
Crawbuck said MacArthur in particular underwent a significant transformation following a subpar preseason.
“Margaret turned around to play super tennis,” Crawbuck said. “She’s undefeated. Out of all four years, I think this was her best year. She’s probably MVP this year, along with Kimberley.”
While the season was satisfying — if not unexpected — Crawbuck doesn’t need to see a repeat next year.
“It was really surprising,” she said. “It was a roller coaster ride, but it was an interesting season. Whatever happens next season, I don’t even care. I would like to do it again, but it’s not like last year where I felt like we needed to come back this year, get there and make it happen.”
North, though, wasn’t so far behind. At 16-6, the Knights’ highlights included a victory at the Moorestown Invitational Classic in September with 3-2 wins over Haddonfield and Moorestown — the first for a West Windsor-Plainsboro team in 29 years, though South didn’t play this time around.
“Moorestown is a traditional South Jersey tennis power,” head coach Richard Arnold said. “That was a high point.”
Senior Arielle Bosworth said the squad also cracked Haddonfield’s three-year winning streak, which sweetened the victory even more.
The team also advanced to the Central Jersey, Group 4 quarterfinal round, where it suffered its second loss of the season to Hunterdon Central. The Knights saw much more success in the Mercer County Tournament, finishing third behind Princeton and South, led by Amanda Binder and Audrey Chen, who each finished second in third and second singles, respectively.
“She’s been very consistent this season,” Arnold said of Chen. “She’s played some matches at number one this year, but she’s been the most valuable at number two.”
Binder, a junior, and her freshman sister Nora, though — both first-year varsity team members — are among the squad’s brightest emerging stars. The pair moved back to the area just before the start of the school year after living in Germany for eight years.
The sisters had to adjust to North’s size — a much bigger school than what they were used to — but other than that, the transition was smooth, said Amanda.
“We didn’t have a problem with that,” she said. “Coming into tennis, everyone was really nice, so we made friends with them quickly.”
Arnold added that Nora and Bosworth, a freshman-senior doubles team, helped carry the Knights with their quick, easy rapport that’s often missing in pairs with such a wide age gap.
“They had good chemistry,” Arnold said. “They worked really well together for not even knowing each other before. They were a good, strong first doubles team.”
Nora attributed that to the girls’ similar personalities.
“We both are kind of nice people,” she said. “We’re really open-minded. We don’t really judge anyone. I feel like that helped us. I don’t really see a big deal about playing with a senior. We were able to just focus on the tennis rather than the age aspect.”
Bosworth agreed, adding that Nora brings to the table a maturity that she didn’t see in herself as a freshman.
“When I was a freshman on varsity, I played with another freshman,” Bosworth said. “When we were both freshmen, we did a lot of things that were juvenile and immature. We played in a way that was not necessarily smart tennis. Now, not only is Nora way more mature than I was, but I have the experience from past years. I think we strategize a lot more because of those things.”
Girls’ Tennis
South defeated North 5-0 on October 27. Singles 1 (South): Caroline Zhou 6-2, 6-1. Singles 2 (South): Angela Weng 7-5, 6-3. Singles 3 (South): Stephanie Ji 6-3, 7-6. Doubles 1 (South): Angela Li and Sanjana Ravi 6-3, 6-0. Doubles 2(South): Margaret MacArthur and Kimberly Wong 6-1, 6-0.
South defeated North 3-2 on November 3. Singles 1 (South): Zhou 6-4, 6-2. Singles 2 (North): Audrey Chen 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Singles 3 (North): Amanda Binder 6-1, 6-1. Doubles 1 (South): Li and Ravi 7-5, 6-3. Doubles 2 (South): MacArthur and Wong 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
North (16-6): A 4.5-0.5 loss to Princeton on October 28.
South (24-1): A 5-0 win over Steinert on October 24. Singles 1: Zhou 6-1, 6-3. Singles 3: Ji 6-1, 6-1. Doubles 1: Li and Ravi 7-5, 7-6.
A 4-1 win over Moorestown on October 25. Singles 1: Zhou 6-0, 6-1. Singles 2: Weng 6-1, 6-2. Doubles 1: Li and Ravi 6-3, 4-6, 10-3. Doubles 2: MacArthur and Wong 6-0, 6-0.
A 5-0 win over Trenton on October 28. Singles 1: Wong 6-0, 6-0. Singles 2: Manogna Konduri 6-0, 6-0. Singles 3: Michelle DeSouza 6-1, 6-0.
A 5-0 win over Notre Dame on October 31. Singles 1: Zhou 6-0, 6-1. Singles 2: Ji 6-0, 6-0. Singles 3: Wong 6-0, 6-0.
