DOUBLE TAKE: The Princeton High girls’ tennis second doubles pair of Ksenia Petukh, left, and Luna Xu are all smiles after winning a match earlier this season. Last Thursday, Petukh and Xu won the second doubles title at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) tournament, helping PHS finish third in the team standings at the event. Last Monday, the pair posted a 6-2, 6-1 win as PHS defeated WW/P-South 4-1 to end the season with a 12-2 record in dual match play. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
Luna Xu and Ksenia Petukh played on the junior varsity squad last fall for the Princeton High girls’ tennis program.
This season, the pair moved up to the PHS varsity squad at second doubles and have thrived in that role.
Last Thursday, they found themselves in the second doubles final of the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) tournament at the Mercer County Park Tennis Center and experienced some butterflies.
Sophomore Xu acknowledged that she was a bit apprehensive heading into the match against WW/P-South’s Caroline Ren and Sitara Shah.
“I was still kind of scared that we were going to fumble,” said Xu. “I just tried not to think about how nervous I was. I tried to move around to I wouldn’t let my thoughts overtake me.”
Playing some nervous tennis, the pair lost the first set 6-4. Heading into the second set, junior Petukh was looking to be more aggressive.
“We tried to build our confidence back up after we lost that set,” said Petukh. “We tried to be more consistent and be more offensive and play better defense.”
They found consistency, winning the second set 6-0 to force a 10-point match tiebreak.
Petukh was cautiously optimistic looking ahead to the tiebreak.
“It felt better but I was still scared because this was our first tiebreaker of the season,” said Petukh. “Yesterday during practice we did a tiebreaker.”
That work paid off as Petukh and Xu jumped out to a 7-0 lead and won 10-5, winning their flight and helping PHS finish third in the team standings of the event won by WW/P-North.
As the tiebreak unfolded, Petukh drew on some special motivation.
“I felt like that we were in control at that point,” said Petukh. “Then I remembered my mom’s words — if you win, I will buy you some Legos — and it was now I have to win.”
Xu was proud of how far she and Petukh have come this fall.
“Last year we were on JV,” said Xu. “We were happy that we were able to win this in our first year on varsity.”
In reflecting in the pair’s progress, Petukh noted that they had to make some adjustments to get into a groove.
“In the beginning of the season, since Luna is a lefty and I am a righty, we tried for me to be on the deuce side,” said Petukh.”That didn’t really work out because I am used to playing on the outside and she is used to playing on the deuce side. We communicated through that and decided to switch.”
PHS head coach Sarah Hibbert liked the work she got from her squad collectively as the Tigers advanced to the semis in all five flights of the competition.
“It is always nice to get everyone through to second day, especially with a bunch of newer players on the varsity lineup,” said Hibbert, whose team piled up 19.5 points with champion WW/P-N coming in at 22 and WW/P-S taking second with 20. “We have three returners and four new players in the lineup.”
The play of varsity newcomers Petukh and Xu was a bright spot for the Tigers.
“Second doubles was a real highlight,” said Hibbert. “They started out a little bit nervous in that final match but they were really able to find their rhythm in the second set and they went on to cruise.”
In reflecting on the pair’s comeback, Hibbert credited them with raising the level of their game as the match went on.
“I think it was just a little bit more confidence; it was all right, we did lose that first set but we weren’t really playing our best tennis,” said Hibbert. “It was more about cutting down on unforced errors and being confident to step up and hit their shots and they did that really well and they were able to take that momentum into the tiebreaker. That was really exciting.”
The first doubles team of senior Ashna Bushan and junior Sophia Bruhn made things exciting in their final as they nearly pulled out the second set in falling 6-2, 7-5 to Sana Daway and Caris Co of WW/P-South.
“The first doubles made a rally that fell just short of forcing a match tiebreak,” said Hibbert. “They battled back. They were down 2-5 in the second set and they fought back to 7-5. They had some really good points at the end there. They worked really hard.”
At first singles, junior Phoebe Decker batted hard in her semi, falling 6-3, 6-2 to Alice Nadtochiy of WW/P-South, before rolling to a straight-set win over Chiara Barrios Bartel of Steinert in the third-place match.
“Phoebe had a great day today, Alice is a very tough player and she played her very close,’ said Hibbert. “It was almost a two-hour match and she was very competitive with her. It was 3 and 2 on the scoreboard but they were at deuce almost every game. She really played very well and then for her to turn around and play so well in her third place match was great. It was 1 and 1. She beat her last time but in a third set tiebreak so it was a big difference between a third set tiebreak and 1 and 1.”
The squad’s two freshmen, Amelia Huang at third singles and Aariyana Patel at second singles, also performed well in their CVC debut as they both ended up taking third through defaults.
“Moving in as freshmen and being able to go right into the singles lineup was great,” said Hibbert. “Amelia’s clinching win against Millburn was historic, she has been in a pressure spot many times for us this season and she has fought through. She has worked hard and Aariyana did as well going right up to second. Having both of them in the singles lineup as freshmen has been great for us.”
With its young core, PHS, which defeated WW/P-South 4-1 last Monday to end the season with a 12-2 record in dual match play, has a bright future.
“They had a good year this year, beating Millburn was exciting,” said Hibbert, referring to the 3-2 win by fourth-seeded over top-seeded Millburn in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey 2 Group 3 semifinals. “We have had ups and downs. We had some real great results this year. We had a couple of disappointing, really close losses. Hopefully it will give us the experience for the future since we bring a lot of starters back.”
The Tigers are losing one key starter in Bushan and she will leave a void.
“Ashna was second doubles her freshman year and then first doubles the last three years,” said Hibbert. “She has been a staple in our doubles lineup. She and Maya [Todorov] won the county tournament two years in a row. She has had a great run for us at doubles so we will definitely miss her.”
Xu enjoyed her doubles run with Petukh this fall. “We have definitely become closer,” said Xu. “Last year, I didn’t really know her but this year I got more closer with her. That bond connected us.”