By Bill Alden

Youth is being served this spring for the Princeton Day School boys’ tennis team.

PDS is featuring a freshman and a sophomore in its singles lineup with a pair of freshmen having seen action at doubles.

While the squad may lack experience, Panther head coach Michael Augsberger believes it has plenty of quality.

“It is a super deep team,” said Augsberger, whose team defeated Hun 4-1 last Monday in moving to 2-2. “It has been tough to differentiate between the guys, everyone from one through four is basically very similar in skills and everyone from five through 11 is very close as well.”

Freshman Bryan Kim Short is bringing plenty of skill at first singles.

“Bryan has excellent hands, excellent technique and his footwork is strong,” said Augsberger. “He is clearly very focused on tennis. He has come from London, where he has been living for a while. He has got the soccer background as well which helps with his footwork and gives him a better understanding of spacing, Since he has come over he has gotten right back up in the USTA and built up a big LTA rating.”

PDS suffered a big setback when senior Steven Li, who had won the No. 2 singles spot, was injured in the opening match against WW/P-North on April 1 and will be sidelined for the rest of the spring. Sophomore and consistent baseliner Abhishek Srinivasan has moved up to that spot in Li’s absence.

“Abhishek has made a bit of a leap since last year,” said Augsberger. “He is playing probably the most improved tennis player out of the singles guys. He has grown a little bit, he has got a little bit more power. He is a little bit more consistent than he was last year.”

PDS does boast experience at third singles with senior Jaylen Peng.

“It is great to have him at third — he doesn’t play third singles tennis where guys are trying to be consistent with finesse,” said Augsberger of Peng. “That is not Jaylen — Jaylen is power. It is nice to have him at third as long as he is able to not get sidetracked by guys who just want to keep the ball in play, which is difficult in itself. He wants to get the point over with and that can frustrate you. If he is able to rise above that, he can be really successful there.”

At first doubles, juniors Avi Saran and junior Jacobo Garcia-Carillo are poised for a successful season.

“They have the most experience of the doubles guys,” said Augsberger. “They have chemistry in terms of their competitiveness. Avi is like the Formula 1 driver who likes to go fast, he is very confident. I think that pairs well with Jacobo’s fiery competitiveness. He is Spanish and has that fiery, passionate attitude. He puts his whole body on the line. He runs into fences, he dives on the court. You have got the righty/lefty combination with them.”

Freshman Faizan Mohammad, junior Archie Douglas, and freshman Michael Zhou have seen time at second doubles so far this spring.

“Faizan has incredible athleticism; his hands are very good and his volleys are incredibly strong,” said Augsberger, whose team has a match at WW/P-South on April 17 before competing in the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) tournament on April 21 and 23 at the Mercer County Tennis Center.

“I have seen him play some touch shots that really impressed me. When you talk about doubles, that is what you are talking about. Even if he is inexperienced and a freshman, we really see his potential there. Archie was here as a freshman and we earmarked him as someone with great potential and then he spent a year in London so we missed him last year. He has come back improved. Michael is a freshman and we are really impressed with him so he could also be a part of that mix.”

As PDS looks forward to the CVC tourney, Augsberger sees that as a chance for his young squad to gain some valuable experience.

“I thought we would be big-time competitors at the CVC,” said Augsberger. “I think our depth is very strong so that hasn’t changed but what I have seen so far in our first couple of matches is that the injury (to Li) puts a damper on things because everybody has to move up a spot. The other thing that I see is the inexperience, it is going to be tough.”