Having lost all three singles players and half of its first doubles pair from a team that won the Mercer County Tournament (MCT) and advanced to the state Group 3 finals in 2014, the Princeton High girls’ tennis team has a distinctly new look this fall.

“There are a lot of new faces and even the returning faces are in new places,” said PHS head coach Sarah Hibbert, whose team suffered a loss before the season started when senior star and former state singles champion Chris Rosca opted not to play for PHS this fall due to her heavy weekend tournament schedule.

But while the lineup is totally revamped, PHS wasted no time showing that it is still a team to be reckoned with as it topped Robbinsville 4-1 in its season opener earlier this month.

“I thought we had a good win over Robbinsville, our No. 1 (Gillian Samios) was sick and we had to move our singles lineup up and change some things around,” said Hibbert.

“Knowing that we had so much transition in our lineup and the additional sickness, I wasn’t sure how things would go. I was really happy with how everyone played. I think they did a good job of stepping up in the first match.”

Although PHS fell 5-0 to WW/P-S last Wednesday, Hibbert saw positives.

“The matches, doubles in particular, were very close,” said Hibbert. “The singles matches were a lot closer than the scores looked. They were having good rallies and good points, their girls just have a little more experience. They have all played at least a year of singles whereas none of our girls have played a full year of singles.”

Hibbert is confident that senior Gillian Samios can come through as she moves into the first singles slot.

“Gillian has worked hard on her game since her freshman year, she has worked her way up from JV to doubles to first singles,” said Hibbert.

“Last year she was second doubles when the lineup was intact for counties and states. She did play third singles when Chris was not there so she did get some experience in singles matches last year which has helped her. We talked about the fact that she was going to have some tough matches and she was going to have some very winnable matches and many in between. It will just be a great experience for her to get better, work hard, and improve her game.”

At second singles, junior Elise Gerdes is showing improvement. “She is very consistent as well with good, steady groundstrokes” added Hibbert of Gerdes, who played second doubles with Samios in 2014.

“She has really upped the pace on her shots and her consistency as well. She has been trying to add some additional skills and strategies to her repertoire as well with more volleys. She is using the year of doubles to mix it up a little bit.”

Junior Brinda Suppiah brings a good skill set to third singles. “She has picked up her consistency from last year,” said Hibbert.

“She always had good pace on her shots but she wasn’t always able to finish the points. She has really improved her overall game and has worked very hard since last year. She had a great start to the season and hopefully she will be able to continue that way.”

A pair of seniors, Nikhita Salgame and Rachel Kleiman, has been giving PHS some fine work so far at first doubles.

“Nikhita has really been picking up her net game, she is willing to be aggressive and poach,” said Hibbert of Salgame, who played first doubles last season.

“She plays smart doubles shots. With the experience of two years of doubles, she can judge where the best place to hit the ball is. They are a good pairing, they are friends. They balance each other out well. Rachel is consistent on ground strokes and likes to volley as well. They seem to have fun on the court together.”

As for second doubles, Hibbert is still trying to figure out the best pairing, looking at Alina Zhao, Adriana Todorov, Caroline Tan, and Maggie Herring as potential options.

“The second doubles is still a little bit of a work in progress; we have four players for the two spots,” said Hibbert.

“I have been trying different combinations and pairings, trying to see the best team I can make out of the four players that we have. All four of them are working hard, they are very close and they all bring strengths to the team. They will probably all get time this year.”

With the MCT starting on September 28 at Mercer County Park, Hibbert knows that PHS faces a tall order in its quest to win a second straight crown.

“I don’t know if we are going to have the experience to repeat as county champions,” said Hibbert, whose team topped Lawrence 5-0 last Monday to improve to 3-1 and hosts Notre Dame on September 24 and Steinert on September 25 before opening play in the county tournament.

“But at the same time, it is every individual’s goal to work as hard as she can and do as well as she can, both for her benefit and for the team. We want to have a good showing. We would love to have a top three finish, considering we have lost our entire singles lineup and part of doubles. We are hoping to maintain the strong tradition and do as well as we can.”

No matter what happens at the counties, Hibbert feels that the squad is coming together nicely.

“We always have strong players, we always have girls who are willing to work hard,” said Hibbert.

“They are a dedicated group who are working really hard. They do team bonding stuff all the time, they do lunches and dinners. The team gets along well. The returning players all try to work hard to make sure that the new players feel included and have fun out there because while tennis is an individual sport, it is still very much about the team.”