SHARED OWNERSHIP: Princeton Day School boys’ tennis star Neeraj Devulapalli prepares to hit a forehand in a match earlier this season. Last week, junior Devulapalli was the runner-up at second singles in the state Prep B championships as the Panthers earned a share of the team title along with Pennington and Montclair Kimberley. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Coming into the state Prep B tournament last week, the Princeton Day School boys’ tennis team faced an uphill battle.

PDS has been juggling its lineup over the last few weeks and was not at full strength coming into the competition.

“We had a lot of injuries and illness this year,” said PDS head coach Will Asch, noting that first singles player David Zhang was recovering from pneumonia and that his first doubles team couldn’t play in the tourney due to scheduling conflicts.

Undeterred, PDS ended up earning a share of the title along with Pennington and Montclair Kimberley.

While the Panthers would have like to have had the championship to themselves, Asch saw the crown as a positive step for the program which was coming off of a 5-9 season in 2012.

“It was good to win a share of the title after being under .500 last year,” said Asch.

“It is all about the boys playing and having fun. They played a lot of matches and it was a good learning experience. It was good that three teams got to share the title, the two other teams were very good.”

Freshman Scott Altmeyer showed quite a learning curve as he prevailed at singles after playing doubles much of the spring. “Scott was our best player,” said Asch. “He won at third singles.”

While Zhang fell short at first singles, losing to eventual champion Jerry Jiang of Pennington in the semis, the freshman showed a lot of grit. “We didn’t know what to expect of David at the Prep B,” said Asch

“David came out and played well in his first match. He had to play Jerry in the semis; they were the two best players in the tournament. He was up 2-1 in the third set and then Jerry got cramps and took a 20-minute break and got some medical attention. When Jerry got back, he played really well. He was really hurting and so was David. It was tough on both of them.”

The Panthers suffered a tough defeat at second singles as junior Neeraj Devulapalli was edged by Pennington’s Nick Gorab 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

“Neeraj was up 5-4 in the second set; it was one of those things, he just couldn’t finish it,” said Asch.

“It was a close match; they were evenly matched players. In the match they played in the regular season, Neeraj lost the first set and then dominated. In the Prep B, he lost a tiebreaker in second and couldn’t come up with the goods. These things happen.”

The Panthers made some good things happen at second doubles as the pair of junior D.J. Modzelewski and senior Alec Gershen advanced to the championship round where they were defeated 6-2, 6-0 by Joel Battsek and Karan Juvekar of Montclair Kimberley.

“We brought in substitutes for second doubles, D.J. Modzelewski and Alec Gershen,” said Asch.

“D.J. had hurt his shoulder and had to serve underhanded. They wound up getting two wins but were outclassed in the finals.”

In Asch’s views, his players showed a lot of class this spring as they persevered through the ups and downs.

“It was a rocky year but it was a wonderful group of kids and they dealt with things very well,” asserted Asch, who guided the Panthers to a second place finish in the Mercer County Tournament earlier this spring.

“We went 10-3, that is quite a record. We lost to Haddonfield and South (WW/P-S), who we usually wouldn’t play. In head-to-head matches against Prep B teams, we were
undefeated.”