Two key injuries have put both WW-P tennis teams in a difficult spot heading into the state tournament. North lost its first singles player, Jackie Tseng, to a foot injury. South saw its second singles player, Annie Scharfstein, sidelined for an unknown amount of time. Both squads have to scramble to fill the important spots, and may need to break up successful doubles pairings to fill the gaps.
The re-aligned squads have fared well thus far, with both teams winning on October 3 and 4. North, as a number seven seed in the Central Jersey Group III tournament, rolled past Allentown, 4-1, with the Chang sisters, Alma and Caroline, both winning in the first and second singles slots. They beat Lawrence, 5-0, in a regular season match the following day. The Knights’ next opponent in the tournament was Princeton, the number two seed, on Thursday, October 5, as the News was going to press.
South, the second seed in the Group IV tournament, blanked Trenton and Robbinsville after losing its top two players. The team won all five matches, and the new singles line-up of Neha Gavai, Alison Kempf, and Lesley Norris won without losing a game. Each match ended 6-0, 6-0. The match was not part of the tournament. South’s number two seed earned the team a bye, and was playing South Brunswick in the second round of the on Thursday, October 5.
South
It has been an exciting first half of the season for the Pirates, starting things out with a string of six straight victories and a second place finish in the Mercer County Tournament on September 27. (Hun won its sixth straight MCT title with 33 points, followed closely by South with 25 points. Princeton High finished third with 21 points and Stuart Country Day was fourth with 18 points.)
With former coach Kris Javick taking the season off after giving birth to her first child earlier this summer, Jim Giovacchini has taken over the reins for the South girls team this fall. He has coached the South boys’ teams to some impressive Mercer County Tournament championships, undefeated seasons, as well as some lofty state rankings during the past few years.
But this season Giovacchini has been leading the Pirate girls to a string of victories, including a 5-0 victory over High School North on September 11 and similar triumphs over Steinert and Hightstown. South’s first loss came at the hands of archrival Princeton High School at home on September 29, falling 3-2. “We knew that Princeton was going to be a big test for us and we really felt we could beat them,” says Giovacchini. “Princeton is ranked in the top 20 teams in the state, but we finished ahead of them in the county tournament, so we came into the match pretty confident.”
It could be said that the Pirates just ran into bad luck against Princeton, but Giovacchini prefers to look at it as a growth experience. Either way South very nearly walked away with a victory. Tied 2-2, with the third singles match left to play, South’s Nisha Javeri, a senior, lost a close match, 7-5 in the third set, giving the win to Princeton. In addition, second singles star Annie Scharfstein, a sophomore, lost her match and also came away with a pulled groin muscle.
“Both Nisha and Annie had beaten their opponents in the county tournament, so we felt we had a chance to win the match” says Giovacchini. “But those are things you have to live with.” Scharfstein’s injury will put a question mark on the rest of the season for the Pirates. “You can’t be expected to beat anybody on a pulled groin muscle,” says Giovacchini.
South’s strong showing in the MCT was a surprise to many area tennis buffs. South’s second place finish in the MCT is the highest finish for the Pirates in six years (having won the title in 2000) and South players also managed to win four medals this year: Scharfstein took home a second place medal; Javeri won a third place medal, in first doubles Allison Kempf , a junior, and freshman Lesley Norris won third; and at second doubles seniors Julie Afinogenova and Jenna Stanton also took third place. Senior Joelle Nitzberg, at first singles, finished fourth overall, earning her team four important points.
Even though this is his first season coaching the girls, Giovacchini had seen the Pirates play in other years and came into the season knowing quite a lot about the team. He says that he is particularly excited this season with his two youngest starters on his team, Scharfstein and Norris.
“Annie is such a great player with a huge heart and a tremendous attitude,” he says. “She has showed a tremendous amount of improvement over last year. Lesley is a terrifically talented player also with a great attitude. She is quite impressive when hitting the ball in serves and forehands. Both these girls are so young and have a lot of future left to play.”
With some tough matches ahead, especially against strong teams like Notre Dame (at Mercer County Park on Friday, October 6 at 4 p.m.,) a home match against Princeton Day School (Tuesday, October 17 at 4 p.m.,) as well as the NJSIAA preliminaries championships (that run from Saturday, October 7, through Tuesday, October 10) Perhaps its toughest test will be the a match against Hun on Friday, October 20. Giovacchini refuses to put any wins in his basket beforehand. “We really don’t know what will happen along the way,” he says “We are just going to put our people out there and play as hard as we can.”
Giovacchini sees little difference between coaching girls and boys teams. “This is a great group and a very competitive group,” he says. “They work hard in practice and want to win just as much as the boys do. We’ve had a few close losses, but we have also fought all the way. So far we are having a great year.”
North
The Lady Knights entered this season as something of a mystery. The big question was how North would stay afloat after losing four-year star Jackie Wong to graduation. North’s coach Albert Paulsson had a challenge ahead of him. “We are really coming along nicely, thank you,” he says. “We’ve been able to get some momentum on our side this first part of the season and we are just hoping to keep it going.”
Starting the season with a 6-3 record, including a four-match winning streak (against Nottingham, Ewing, Notre Dame, and Hamilton) North has proved that it is a force to be reckoned with in the CVC. While the names do not glimmer quite yet, Paulsson’s starters are solid, when every player is healthy. At full strength, the line-up is: first singles is Jackie Tseng, a senior. Junior Alma Chang is at second singles with her sister, Caroline Chang, a sophomore, at third singles. First doubles is composed of Sinthu Ranjan, a junior, and sophomore Natasha Sastri and playing second doubles is Betsy Bourassa, a senior, and fellow senior Shaili Desai.
North put in a solid performance at the Mercer County Tournament on September 25 and September 27, finishing a strong fifth with eight total points. In particular, the Knights first doubles team of Ranjan and Sastri lost a nail-biter in three sets in the semifinals before losing again in the third-place match. In addition, first singles Tseng won her first round battle before losing in the second. “We have new players in new positions,” says Paulsson. “But I think that we are showing improvement and some talent.”
Paulsson says that he is particularly impressed with Jackie Tseng this season. Tseng will miss some matches due to her foot injury, but looks to be back in the line-up before the end of the season. After playing second singles in 2005, she faces tougher opponents in the first singles slot this year. Her biggest challenge, however, may be filling the shoes of the Jackie that came before her. “Jackie has a powerful baseline game,” he says. “She is very consistent and extremely patient in her game. She knows how to deliver the ball with an imposing touch. She has made a successful transition from playing doubles in her freshman and sophomore years to being a top singles player. First singles is very demanding and she has been remarkable.”
Now in his sixth season coaching both the girls and boys tennis teams at North, Paulsson says that the hardest part of his coaching job is making cuts at the beginning of the season. “I absolutely dread making cuts,” he says. “I know that it is necessary in order to make the team more productive and maximize the talent of our players.” This season 38 girls tried out for the team, with the final number on the combined varsity and junior varsity squad at 27.
Building and maintaining a winning program in a hyper-competitive conference like the CVC can sometimes test a coach’s patience as well as personal commitment. With a wife and two children (a five year old son and a two year old daughter), and more one on the way, Paulsson says he still enjoys coaching both the boys’ and girls’ teams. “With a family, I find it impossible to play competitively right now,” he says. “But working with the kids gives me a chance to stay close to the game. I really enjoy that.”
North has a string of tough matches coming up, including the beginning of the NJSIAA tournament starting on Saturday, October 7 through Tuesday, October 10; a home battle against the six-time county champions, Hun, on Wednesday, October 11, at 4 p.m.; and an away match at Steinert on Friday, October 13, at 4 p.m.
