Winning the Mercer County Tournament for boys tennis is difficult in an area loaded with talent.
Prithvi Sunkavelli and Jayant Venkatesan understood that better than anybody on the High School North boys tennis team.
The seniors had been a part of the Knights program each of the previous three years when they had come up short. That history made winning the first county team title for WW-P North since 2009 all the sweeter.
“It definitely does mean a lot, not only to me but to the school, especially considering it’s our first time winning it in 15 years,” said Sunkavelli. “Everything just played out perfectly and it was meant to be.”
WW-P North needed every half-point for the historic win. The Knights amassed 24 points to edge defending champion Princeton High’s 23.5 points.
High School South, which had won eight straight crowns before last year, was third with 23 points, and even fourth-place Pennington School picked up 22 points. North didn’t beat Princeton or South in head-to-head matchups in the regular season, but they edged them when it mattered most.
“The odds for the most part were against us,” said first-year coach Taylor Mastropasqua, who took over for Albert Paulsson, the only coach the program had ever had. “New coach, new group, South and Princeton were really strong teams that we knew we had to go up against, it was really special and the boys were so happy. It was awesome to see them do it because they really did come together that tournament.”
North’s depth made the difference. The Knights advanced all five flights to the second day of the tournament’s semifinals, but ultimately won only one flight. Still, they picked up major points with every flight making the semifinals to set up the final day’s action.
“We were really confident, but at the same time, we’re also kind of anxious because we had a lot of significantly tougher opponents than we did the first two rounds,” Venkatesan said. “So we played with caution.”
Charlie Xiang at first singles and Lukas Karapelou at second singles reached the semifinals before losing. Saikrishna Siddesh reached the third-singles final before taking second place behind the top seed.
Both doubles teams also reached their finals, with the first-doubles tandem of Sunkavelli and Shiva Tripurana falling in three sets and Venkatesan and Ravin Lalla rallying for a three-set win at second doubles.
“If we didn’t win that match, then there’s definitely a really good chance that we wouldn’t have won because we only ended up winning by a half point,” Venkatesan said. “It was really nice, but it’s also kind of stressful at the same time.”
Hugely important to the win was the Knights bettering their seeds. Both third singles and second doubles were fourth seeds that reached their respective finals. Those advancements picked up unexpected points toward the team title.
“It’s not being scared of a number that was next to someone’s name,” Sunkavelli said. “We just played our game and that’s how we got it done all throughout the season.
“We don’t really care about who we’re playing, because it doesn’t matter,” he added. “As soon as you’re on that court, it’s not like anything’s going to change the result apart from your play. So that’s really all we focused on. We didn’t focus on this seeding.”
Mastropasqua tried to keep her team even keel through the emotions of the tournament. She didn’t want them thinking too much about the points and the importance of each match, though they knew each was crucial.
“For the most part all season the main message was just simple tennis or textbook tennis was our quote,” she said. “And I would always just say all in, everything you’ve got, all heart. And if you put it out there, whatever happens, happens. And every time they played simple, they played well.”
The mindset of the Knights was important to their win. They won 13 of their first 17 matches this season, and for two days in the midst of the year no one was better.
“We haven’t been the most healthy, but counties was when everyone was healthy and everyone was focused,” Sunkavelli said. “I think just that stretch that week everyone was at their peak physically and mentally, and we went in with a different type of attitude that we are still trying to replicate, especially going into states. But we set the blueprint at counties. We know exactly what we have to do to win.”
The Knights came into the season confident it could be a special year. North returned everyone from their top seven, though this year the lineup was shuffled differently from a year ago. Players like Sunkavelli and Venkatesan have learned to adapt through their careers.
Sunkavelli has played doubles for all four years of his high school career. He played JV as a freshman, something that he wasn’t happy about, but it gave him a baseline of experience when he jumped into the varsity lineup as a sophomore. He has played with a different doubles partner each year.
“Just playing with all these different people taught me how to adapt,” said Sunkavelli. “On the court obviously everyone has a different play style. Everyone likes a certain shot more than another. I think part of what makes me so versatile and makes me so good on the court is my ability to really work with anyone and adjust whether that be my partner or even to the opponent, which is obviously more important. And honestly, building chemistry takes time, but I’m very patient with that type of stuff.”
Venkatesan has also had to adapt each year. He has gone from playing second doubles as a freshman to first doubles as a sophomore, then into the singles lineup last year. That made moving back to doubles this year a bit more challenging.
“Actually I kind of forgot how to play doubles in a way,” Venkatesan said. “I had had a whole season of singles.”
Venkatesan took some time to readjust to having more space to hit to. He and Lalla found their chemistry and hit their stride as they got to counties.
“It was kind of rough starting, but then as the season went on we got a lot better together,” Venkatesan said. “We figured out exactly how to play together, like what signs to make when each of us are hitting our shot and when to move, where to move. So communication is really key. And I feel like we kind of we really improved that as the season went on, like in every set.”
Having both Venkatesan and Sunkavelli in the doubles lineup was a boost. Their experience was a plus for their partners and the team. And they helped bring leadership from the team for their first-year coach.
“Jayant and Prithvi are both really key guys,” Mastropasqua said. “Prithvi is our captain and he just always has that positivity. He’s always the guy that’s giving us our speech before our matches and he really helped the freshman too, just encouraging them. He’s patient with them, so having him as that positive guy to play on our team really helped.
“And then Jayant, he’s just like the know-it-all guy. He has all the knowledge, he gives us all the points and feedback and he’s our go-to for where we’re at. So he knew exactly where we were for points. Having those two leading us was really beneficial and I think they really led by example on the court and off the court.”
The two will be heading to college next year, both focusing on their computer science studies. Venkatesan is going to Purdue, and Sunkavelli is off to Rutgers. Both expect they will continue to play tennis at a club level, though they also have other interests. Sunkavelli also plays a lot of basketball.
“Me and my friends have our own AAU team right now,” he said. “Part of that is learning how to be a team player it just directly correlates with me being a leader on the court for the tennis team.”
Sunkavelli enjoys outdoor activities and is picking up pickleball to play with his friends. Venkatesan is looking forward to some new interests at Purdue.
“I’ll actually think about joining their dance team,” he said. “And then just being involved and other events that go on, like going to sports games, all that type of stuff, and being involved with the regular life of Purdue. I was definitely thinking about exploring a lot of new things out there that I can’t do in high school.”
The two did finish their final high school season with something new in recent WW-P North history. And this year’s county win came in the final MCT as currently constructed. There are plans to retool it next year.
“Everyone knows their job and everyone knows their role,” Sunkavelli said. “And because everyone is comfortable in their position, everyone’s able to thrive at their position and the depth of this team is definitely something special.”
Said Venkatesan: “We went 15 years without winning, so we kind of realized that at some point in time we have to bring our name back up in the books. It means a lot to win the last Mercer County Tournament.”
Members of the High School North boy’s tennis team after winning the Mercer County Tournament. Pictured are Yousuf Rostom (left), Lukas Karapelou, Jacob Klein, Shiva Tripurana, Prithvi Sunkavelli, Jayant Venkatesan, Ravin Lalla, Charlie Xiang and Sai Siddesh. Coach Taylor Mastropasqua is at bottom.,
