(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: A-PLUS: Princeton Day School girls’ tennis star Samantha Lieb smacks a forehand in a match earlier this fall. Last Thursday, Lieb beat Hun’s Kara Shoemaker 7-5, 6-1 in the Prep A finals at first singles. Lieb’s win helped the Panthers earn the Prep A team title as PHS piled up 22 points in topping runner-up Lawrenceville (18 points) and third-place finishers Blair (8) and Oak Knoll (8). It was the program’s first Prep A crown since 1988.

Gamble Pays Off for PDS Girls’ Tennis as Panthers Take Prep A Championship

Bill Alden

For Patty Headley, seeing her Princeton Day School girls’ tennis team end this fall by winning a second straight state Prep B title would have been just fine.

But as the PDS players looked ahead to the 2009 campaign, they had higher aspirations.

“We won Prep B pretty handily last year they said before the season ‘why don’t we play Prep A,’” recalled PDS head coach Headley. “I said ‘what if you don’t win Prep A’ and they said, ‘don’t worry, we will.’ ”

Last week, the Panthers proved that their confidence was justified as they won the Prep A title in impressive fashion, piling up 22 points to top runner-up Lawrenceville (18 points) and third-place finishers Blair (8) and Oak Knoll (8).

With PDS having advanced to the finals in four of the five flights of the competition, there wasn’t a whole lot of drama in the championship round last Thursday at Pingry.

“Basically, I try not to deal with the numbers,” said the superstitious Headley, whose team ended the season undefeated in dual matches and placed a close second to WW/P-S at the Mercer County Tournament.

“Unless something unforeseen happened, we were in very good shape. We had a lead and we had four finalists with Lawrenceville having three, Oak Knoll two, and Hun one.”

Headley knew that it was going to be her team’s day when the first doubles pair of Samantha Schaeffer and Nicole Keim stormed to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Tori Roecke and Goia Topazio of Oak Knoll.

“They were very fired up,” said Headley of her first doubles team. “Oak Knoll has wonderful doubles teams and we didn’t have any common opponents so we weren’t sure what to expect.”

Headley certainly expected first singles star Samantha Lieb to come away with a win. Lieb did prevail although she was pushed hard in a 7-5, 6-1 victory over longtime rival Kara Shoemaker of Hun.

“She was playing Kara’s game in the first set,” said Headley of her junior star. “She made some mental adjustments and became more focused in the second set.”

PDS second singles freshman standout Samantha Asch showed her customary focus in dispatching Lawrenceville’s Alex Ferrara 6-1, 6-0.

“My name for her is ‘relentless;’ she is the most completely focused player I have ever coached,” said Headley, who has been guiding the Panther girls’ program since 2001.

“You could set off a firecracker next to her on the court and she wouldn’t notice. She just hones in and it’s like a terminator.”

Asch’s father, PDS assistant coach Will Asch, helped the team hone in on its conditioning.

“He is a very good tennis teacher and he added a new element of dynamic conditioning this year,” said Headley.

“It is not stretching and running laps; it is doing lunging and twisting exercises that are specific for what you do in tennis. The girls weren’t happy about it at the start but they have taken to it.”

While the team fell just short of its ultimate goal of a “triple crown” consisting of an undefeated season together with the Prep A and MCT titles, Headley was very happy with this fall.

“We missed the triple crown by a point but it has been a great year,” said Headley, noting that the Panthers last won the Prep A title in 1988. “The players are terrific; we are like a family.”

And with most of the team slated to return next season, it looks like the program has a terrific future.

“I think that PDS is attracting high-level tennis players who are academically capable,” said Headley.

“It is cyclical. Lawrenceville had a run for four years and Hun had a run before that. We are only losing Lauren Constantini at third singles so we should continue to be a strong team.”

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