CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT: Head coach Ed Tseng, far left, and the members of the Princeton Day School girls’ tennis team celebrate after the Panthers won the state Prep B tournament last Thursday at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison. PDS scored 10 points with runner-up Gill St. Bernard’s tallying 8 as it won its fourth straight Prep B crown. The team included Sydney Vine, Tarika Kumar, Touria Salvati, Devika Kumar, Anna Kovacevich, Arya Jha, and Renee Karchere-Sun.
Heading into the final day of the state Prep B girls’ tennis championships, the Princeton Day School team knew it wasn’t a lock in its bid to win a fourth straight crown.
While PDS held a slim one point lead over Gill St. Bernard as the players took the courts at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison last Thursday for the championship round, both teams were alive in three finals.
PDS head coach Ed Tseng realized his squad was in a dogfight. “I knew anything was possible,” said Tseng, who had Sydney Vines in the second singles finals while the first doubles of the Kumar sisters, Devika and Tarika, and the second doubles team of Anna Kovacevich and Tauria Salvati also advanced to the championship round.
“I knew there was a chance for Gill to win, I knew there was a chance for co-champs and I knew there was a chance for us. Obviously we were shooting for a straight out championship.”
Acknowledging that his players were on edge as they headed to the finals, Tseng wanted them to focus on effort, not result.
“It was probably the whole spectrum of emotions, nervousness, excitement, and fear but from day one we have been focusing on just leaving everything on the court,” said Tseng.
“I kept reinforcing to the players that, yes I want to win but ultimately I don’t mind if you lose if you leave everything out there and give your best versus giving up or not giving your best effort.”
Ultimately, PDS was able to hold off Gill to achieve the four-peat, tallying 10 points to edge the runner-up Knights by two points.
The Panthers got the clinching point when the Kumar sisters pulled out a marathon 6-4, 6-7 (15-17) 6-4 win over Martine DiDomenico and Lara Drzik of Gill at first doubles.
“It was the closest match and the last match, they lost that second set in the tiebreaker and they were pretty deflated but I told them on the changeover that the good news is that most third sets are pretty quick so let’s make it in your favor,” said Tseng.
“Sure enough, they jumped out to a 5-0 lead and lost a couple of games but then they finished it.”
In Tseng’s view, senior Devika provided the stability that made the difference in the clutch last Thursday.
“I joked around with them all season long and even with their parents that they don’t act like sisters, they get along,” said Tseng.
“It definitely helped that they were sisters and one was a little older with more experience. Devika was definitely the calming one and the leader on the team.”
The second doubles team of Kovacevich and Salvati prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) over Julianna Poupard and Nikki Goldwert of the Ranney School to give PDS its other point in the championship round.
“They got it done a little quicker; it wasn’t as dramatic,” said Tseng. “That could have gone either way too so that was a big win.”
It is big for PDS to earn the championship four-peat. “We obviously were grateful for it and we know it is pretty rare,” said Tseng.
“I knew we had a chance. That was the goal but the more we focused on that, the more pressure that everyone would feel. Winning it was a by product of our approach the last few years.”
Tseng, for his part, believes there was a special feeling around this year’s squad.
“We really felt like a family,” asserted Tseng, crediting assistant coach Trevor Campbell and volunteer coach Jon Brown with helping to create that atmosphere.
“Most seasons go by pretty quickly, this season went by very quickly. We really jelled as a team. Everyone had each other’s back so that was good.”