SECOND ACT: Princeton Day School girls’ tennis player Maria Martinovic follows through on a shot last week at the Mercer County Tournament. Senior star Martinovic won the second singles title at the MCT, helping PDS take fourth of 18 schools in the team standings. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Advancing to the second singles final at the Mercer County Tournament last week gave Princeton Day School girls’ tennis star Maria Martinovic the chance for redemption on several levels.

Last fall, Martinovic made it to the second singles title match at the MCT, only to leave the court in tears after losing 6-4, 6-0 to Haley Rich of WW/P-S.

A few weeks ago, Martinovic dropped a match to her 2014 finals foe, Audrey Chen of WW/P-N, in a preseason scrimmage.

Exorcising those demons, Martinovic rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Chen, helping PDS take fourth of 18 schools in the team standings.

Grinning broadly in the wake of the triumph, Martinovic said staying cool helped pave the way to the title.

“Last time I played her I got easily frustrated,” said Martinovic. “This time, I kept my composure.”

The savvy senior also made some tactical changes from the preseason match. “I remembered that she is a very steady player and she likes a lot of pace,” said Martinovic.

“She hits both forehand and backhand great so I was thinking that this time I should probably mix it up and give her some different looks. I would hit a higher ball and then a shorter ball and hit some angles. I think that definitely helped.”

For Martinovic, winning the crown was a definite highlight. “I think it is great, I know that my teammates were all very supportive,” said Martinovic.

“This is a big tournament and we wanted to do well. Each one of us had different goals that we set from last year and mine was since I went to the finals, I wanted to actually win it.”

In order to achieve her goal, Martinovic has worked hard on improving her game.

“I think my serve has improved a lot,” said Martinovic. “In this match especially, I had a very good wide serve. A lot of times, I would get her off the court and then I would finish the point. It really set me up on a lot of points. Also I think my footwork is a lot better. I have been trying to move my feet more during the point and not just stand around.”

PDS head coach Ed Tseng is happy with the improvement he sees in Martinovic.

“Maria has always been consistent so she is still consistent but at the same time, she knows when to pull the trigger and finish her opponents off,” said Tseng. “She had lost to Audrey in scrimmage so going into today she wanted revenge and was looking forward to the opportunity.”

The PDS team took the opportunity to show that it is still among the elite programs in the county, with Renee Karchere-Sun taking third at first singles and the first doubles team of Devika Kumar and Touria Salvati also placing third to help propel the Panthers to their fourth-place finish.

“I am very proud of the way everybody played,” said Tseng. “Renee had a great win over Sneha [Rangu of Hightstown]. The doubles had a great win as well. On Monday we had a couple of tough losses against South (WW/P-S). If we had won those two, it could have been a different story.”

Karchere-Sun is showing toughness in the first singles spot. “Renee is a great No. 1 and she has had a great season for us so far, playing  really well,” said Tseng.

“She is another player, who I am very proud of, not just for her efforts in  training and competing but also as a leader on the team.”

The team of Kumar and Salvati is competing at a high level. “They played a great match just now and it is great to see them get some pretty good success,” said Tseng.

“They are playing nice together. They both have good desire, they are both competitors. Sure you get nervous, but that last one was a nice match.”

In Tseng’s view, playing well at the MCT will help the team as the fall unfolds.

“I am big into playing as many matches as possible against good teams and quality opponents,” said Tseng.

“That will just help us prepare for Prep B, which we are looking forward to. We won the last two years so we are looking to three-peat. Anything can happen but I think if we play like we did here, we have a great chance.”

Martinovic, for her part, likes the team’s chances to end the season on a high note.

“It is a good experience for us all,” said Martinovic. “I think we all played really tough matches today and although not all of us did as well as we wanted to, we all learned a lot of things.”