When High School South boys’ tennis coach Richard Arnold is posed with an interview question, he doesn’t quickly snap out his answer. He digests the query, gives it some consideration, and then presents a well-thought answer.
There are exceptions to that rule, however.
Asked if the season just completed by junior Kabir Sarita was the best, or among the best, of any player has ever had during his long and successful career, Arnold didn’t hesitate for an instant.
“Yes,” he said. “Absolutely.”
Had he answered any other way, one would think Arnold had coached the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, as Sarita put together the kind of campaign that ranks high even among a dominant tennis school like South.
Seeded in the 5-8 grouping in the NJSIAA State Singles Tournament, Sarita easily surpassed that ranking by reaching the championship match before losing in two sets to senior Michael Rozenvasser of Demarest. He became the first Pirate to ever gain a state final berth.
Providing a near-automatic point at first singles, Kabir led the Pirates (29-4) to the Mercer County Tournament championship and to the Tournament of Champions finals. He also won the individual MCT crown by avenging an early-season loss to Princeton’s Noah Lilienthal. It was his second county title to go along with his third singles victory two seasons ago. Last year he fell to Lilienthal in the first singles finals.
Kabir finished with a 30-3 record and at one point won 24 straight matches. His only losses were to Lilienthal in a dual match, to Westfield’s Tyler Roth in the TOC semifinals (a match South won, 3-2) and to Rozenvasser.
“He was serving better this year, and just playing the tough points better,” Arnold said. “His serve has gotten much better and he volleyed a little better too.”
Sarita, who could not be reached for comment for this story, is a five-star recruit ranked 33rd in the nation in his age group, according to tennisrcruiting.net. He is eighth in the Middle Atlantic region and third in New Jersey. His IMG TennisRPI is 29 and schedule strength is ranked 54th.
His most noteworthy achievement so far was reaching the finals, in which he navigated through a land mine of tough opponents.
After easily dispatching his first three opponents in two sets, Sarita came up against top-seed Joshua Marchalik of East Brunswick. Marchalik, a sophomore, was the defending state champion. After dropping the first set, Marchalik took a 7-5 win in the second to take the momentum into the decisive third.
Sarita bounced back by grabbing a 4-1 lead, but allowed Marchalik to win three straight games. Once again, the Pirate staved off the charge, using his serve to win the final two games and spring the upset.
In the semifinals he met Dwight-Englewood sophomore Daniel Nuzhny, who was also in the 5-8 seeding group. Sarita took a 6-4, 6-2 win, rallying from a 4-3 deficit in the first set and winning convincingly in the second.
Only Rozenvasser stood in the way of Sarita and South history, and the left-handed hitter from Demarest proved too tough in taking a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
“Kabir just got better and better with each match in the states,” Arnold said. “But I’ve played a lot of lefties in my time and I knew he was in big, big trouble with the lefty. He was serving like, ridiculous. Kabir could beat anyone else but this lefty, so that was a tough break drawing him. I’ve played so many lefties with their slicing serves and it’s just so tough.”
Not to mention, the 5-through-8 seeded Rozenvasser maintained focus throughout.
“This guy was confident too,” Arnold said. “He did not break down or have a bad game. And that was it. I think Kabir was kind of exhausted physically because of all the matches he played.”
Arnold ranked the win over Marchalik among Kabir’s biggest of the season, along with two victories over Newark Academy’s Chris Paradis, whom he beat in a dual meet and in the TOC semifinals.
“The Paradis kid is really good,” Arnold said. “To beat him two times is hard to do.”
The fact that Sarita reached the finals may have surprised some, but for Kabir it was just part of the mission that he hopes to complete as a senior.
“He told me his freshman year he’s going to win the whole thing,” Arnold said. “He’s not really cocky but he was just quietly confident. He just carries himself with a quiet demeanor and lets his racket do the talking. He believes in himself and he’s a hard worker too.”
The best part is that Arnold has Kabir and five other starters back next year. The team will try to take the final step and win the TOC, while Sarita will attempt to do likewise in the state singles tournament. “We have to live up to our expectations next year,” Arnold said. “That’s the hard part.”
It will be a little less difficult if Sarita continues to advance his game.
“He just needs to improve on his volleys and I think he’s right there,” Arnold said. “He’s ready to take the challenge. He needs maybe a little more finesse with his off-pace shots, but everything else is solid. His serve has gotten drastically better. If his volley gets better next year he’s going to be very good.”
Sounds promising, considering he wasn’t too shabby this year.
