WEST WINDSOR – The math is a bit complicated when it comes to the Princeton High girls tennis team, but it’s a darn successful formula.
Five semifinalist flights in the Colonial Valley Conference Tournament, plus three finalists plus two champs equals three. As in, a third championship this autumn.
Princeton amassed 24 points in the CVCT — which concluded at Mercer County Park Wednesday — to outdistance West Windsor-Plainsboro North by four and Robbinsville by five.
It’s trophy number three this season, to go along with the NJSIAA South Jersey Group III crown and Group III title, which came Oct. 15 when they beat Millburn for the first state championship in program history.
If Princeton can beat a talented Robbinsville team Oct. 26 it would also clinch the CVC Colonial Division crown and finish the season 14-0.
But for now, the Tigers will enjoy their first local team title since winning the Mercer County Tournament in 2019.
Of the five semifinalists, senior second singles Phoebe Decker, sophomore third singles Amelia Huang and the second doubles team of junior Luna Xu and senior Allison Wang advanced to the finals, with Decker and Huang winning championships.
Sophomore first singles Aariyana Patel finished third and the first doubles team of seniors Sophia Bruhn and Ksenia Petukh were fourth.
Did coach Sarah Hibbert ever see this much success coming?
“I knew we had the potential to have a great season,” said the veteran coach, who can add the CVCT crown to the two MCT titles her teams have won. “We had six returners and we had a good season last year. We just fell short in counties and states last year. I knew we had a lot of those people back a year more experienced.
“But if you had told me we would be county champs and state champs . . . I never want to oversell and underperform. I always feel I undersell and overperform. I’m really pleased with the way they played as a full team this year. On any given day, one of them has been there to pick up the other. They’ve all had the chance to be he hero. We wouldn’t be here without any single position.”
Decker didn’t let herself think about such things when the season started.
“I kind of was just going match by match,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking 10 matches from now. But winning sectionals put it in perspective we could win states. Coming in here I felt like I had a pretty good draw and it opened my eyes that we were a good team.”
The medal winners at the CVC Girls Tennis Tournament pose for a photo at the Mercer Tennis Center in West Windsor. (Rich Fisher/ For The Trentonian)
Hibbert felt the victory was bittersweet due to some tough losses endured by a few of her players. But the sweet still outweighed the bitter, especially for Decker and Huang.
Decker defeated WW-PN’s Maahi Patmidi in straight sets, running her record to 12-2. All 12 victories were straight sets.
“This is a new feeling,” Decker said. “I hadn’t won a flight before, so being a senior it’s a good way to close out the season.”
Huang was a 2-0 winner over WW-P South’s Caroline Ren, giving her a 14-0 record. She has not lost a set all season.
“I’m just happy that I helped my team and contributed what I could to win counties,” Huang said. “’I’m really proud of all of us. It was a group effort. Our team is really strong this year and I’m really proud of us.”
It was Huang who closed out the Tigers 3-2 win over Millburn in the Group III finals. Princeton had to grind through three straight 3-2 decisions over Shawnee, Montgomery and Millburn in the sectional semifinals and finals and state final.
It’s the kind of gauntlet that made the CVCT a bit less stressful.
“I think because we already had a state championship in our bag I was a little more relaxed so I was just trying to do what I could here,” Huang said. “For this one, every match we win does contribute to the team. I didn’t feel like I had to win as much as I did in that state championship.”
Decker, who called the whole experience “so awesome,” agreed that the state pressure helped in the CVCT.
“States gave us the expectation that it wasn’t going to be easy to win all these matches,” she said. “It built up our confidence. They were good prep matches for counties.
“This is probably the biggest win. I don’t even know how to describe it. I’m just ecstatic about our team working so well together and just playing really hard.”
In discussing what made the team so special, Hibbert felt it was the chemistry that formed among her seniors over the past several seasons, noting “they played with guts and nerves in places we needed to.” She praised her team’s tenaciousness in their three straight 3-2 state wins, saying “the girls were able to play tough when they needed to and support the team and support each other.”
This year’s triumphs come on the heels of some disappointments last year, as Princeton was third in the CVCT and lost to WW-P North in the sectional championship round. With Wang the only new starter this year, a veteran cast returned a little bit smarter and tougher because of those setbacks.
“Any time you suffer a loss you learn something from it, whether or not you feel good about it in the moment,” Hibbert said. “On reflection you see places for improvement.
“They all work so hard and are such a nice group of girls. They support each other. They’re great tennis players as well. The doubles partnerships worked well this year, the singles players were able to shine. All the pieces kind of fell in place when we needed them too.”
Robbinsville freshman Asika Sudarshan won the first singles title at the CVC Girls Tennis Tournament at the Mercer Tennis Center in West Windsor. (Rich Fisher/ For The Trentonian)
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A new face made for a new champion, as Robbinsville freshman Asika Sudarshan won the first singles title by defeating WW-PN’s Sarah Henderson in straight sets.
“It means a lot to me,” Sudarshan said. “I was looking forward to this from the start of the season and a lot of my friends are here and I got to play against them, which was very cool.”
Sudarshan is 19-1 this season, with her lone loss coming to Henderson in an Oct. 2 dual match.
“Then I was not playing the best,” she said. “I saw this as an option for redemption. I just gave it my all and I won.”
Other flight winners were Hopewell’s first doubles tandem of sophomore Nora Poltino and junior Fiona Prood, and Princeton Day School’s youthful second doubles team of freshmen Lotti Flink and Isabella Li.