By Bill Alden

Working a number of new faces into its lineup this spring, the Princeton Day School boys’ tennis team saved its best for last.

PDS posted wins over Allentown and Ewing to wrap up regular season play and then topped St. Rose 5-0 in the first round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Non-Public South Jersey tournament. Facing second-seeded Morristown Friends in the quarterfinal round, the seventh-seeded Panthers battled valiantly as they tried to extend their season but fell 3-2.

“The match against Friends was on a knife’s edge until the end, Steven [Li] was neck and neck with his opponent at second singles,” said PDS head coach Michael Augsberger, whose team ended up with a final record of 10-8 this spring. “That was the deciding match. His opponent hit a drop shot that Steven ran after and he lost his balance. He had been dealing with a wrist injury and as he reached for the drop shot he fell and landed right on it. He played the rest of that match with it. In the second set he was up 2-1 and he played the rest of that set without a backhand. It was an incredibly tough decision that he made — he didn’t want to be the one to retire the match, that would end it.”

Freshman Abhishek Srinivasan came up big at third singles in the match against Moorestown Friends, winning 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 over Jason Youssef.

“That was great,” said Augsberger, noting that Srinivasan posted an 11-5 record this spring while Li, who ended up falling 6-3, 6-2 to Jack Cramner in the state match, went 10-8 as they won the most matches for the squad. “That was like a typical third singles battle where they were just going at each other until somebody would miss. It ended two hours later, it was a slugfest.”

At first singles, junior Jaylen Peng slugged his way to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Zev Smith to earn the other victory for PDS against the Foxes.

“Jaylen was there all year,” said Augsberger. “For him, being such a big guy, it is all about winning the tiebreaks and putting yourself in position to win those matches. Nobody wants to play someone with that kind of power. He is able to punch way above his weight, if he gets people on the ropes.”

As for the doubles lineup, Augsberger alternated players with Avi Saran, Max Levy, David Gajewski, Arjun Bhardwaj, Charlie Kaplowitz, Umang Sharma, and Aryan Kunivar all seeing action in that spot.

“This was the first year where we were able to rotate through the entire bench, it was all about getting guys acclimated to what it is going to be like to compete at the varsity level,” said Augsberger. “Whereas in the past, you have seven or eight and you really don’t mix and match. Every match is so important and it is hard to keep an entire roster of people happy. Here we did a ton of shuffling with the doubles. We were trying to find who is going to be able to take that leap at the end of this year and next year.”

In reflecting on that rotation, Augsberger was happy with what he saw.

“Avi is big and he got a lot of reach, he has got great touch, great hands,” said Augsberger. “He has so much swagger and style. Max was there the entire year. He was a stalwart. He was always going to be part of the second doubles team and moves his way up to first doubles once in a while. This was his first year playing varsity and he was incredibly excited. He really paired well with Arjun at first doubles. We worked with David. Charlie got in there a bit. Ari and Umang stood out as volleyers and for their strokes. We were really happy with the mentality that Aryan had. He is coachable, very respectful and very enthusiastic.”

With no seniors in the lineup this spring and some players returning from injury or being away from PDS this year, the future looks bright for the Panthers.

“The entire team is coming back and we had a couple of guys out with injuries,” said Augsberger. “We have a lot of eyes in the future in terms of guys coming back who we didn’t have this year but also the guys who were here with us. Next year Steven and Jaylen will be a year stronger and a year smarter, that is going to count for an incredible amount because they were thrown into the fire this year. Abhishek had double-digit wins, he is still small and growing into his body. As he gets stronger and stronger, he is going to be a force.”

Augsberger credited his staff with helping the players to raise their games over the course of the spring.

“We are talking about peaking at the right time in terms of the sectional playoffs and giving Friends a run for their money and Friends going on to beat Ranney in the semis,” said Augsberger, whose assistant coaches included Jon Brown, Andrea Sydow, and Ferguson Reeves. “So we are a couple points and a wrist injury from perhaps being in the final. It is a testament to those coaches and their expertise in getting these kids to improve like that.”