GRACE UNDER PRESSURE: Princeton Day School girls’ tennis player Grace Marshall hits a forehand in action last week at the Mercer County Tournament. Junior Marshall took first in third singles, outlasting Melissa Liu of WW/P-South 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the final. Marshall’s victory helped PDS place seventh of 19 schools in the team standings at the event, held at the Mercer County Park tennis complex. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

In mid-September, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya set the world record for the marathon, clocking a time of 2:01.39 in winning the Berlin Marathon.

Last Thursday at the Mercer County Tournament, Princeton Day School girls’ tennis player Grace Marshall found herself in a marathon match that ended up lasting nearly twice as long as Kipchoge’s landmark run, playing four hours to defeat Melissa Liu of WW/P-South 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the third singles championship match.

While junior Marshall sensed that she was in for a long match against Liu, she had no idea of how grueling the contest would end up being.

“I saw her playing before; she was on the court next to me during her semifinal match,” said Marshall, whose victory helped PDS place seventh of 19 schools in the team standings at the event held at the Mercer County Park tennis complex and won by Hightstown.

“I did see that she was really good at getting the ball back and she didn’t hit with a lot of power. That is what I was expecting but I didn’t expect for it to go on that long.”

After losing the first set, Marshall realized that she had to change her approach to extend the match.

“I had to take a step back and adjust how I was playing; I was just going for a little bit too much and was hitting balls out,” said Marshall. “So it was more me making the mistakes and her hitting a lot of good shots.”

In the third set, Marshall trailed 4-1 and she drew on her second set rally to keep her from giving up.

“She just had to hold her serve and she could win the whole thing; what I was telling myself is that I came back to win the second set and I didn’t want to be playing this long match and have it go to nothing,” said Marshall.

“I worked really hard to get the second set and I knew that I just had to get the third set to just finish that.”

Seeing her work pay off with a hard-earned title was sweet for Marshall.

“Before the tournament, I was really confident and was hoping that I would be able to win because both doubles teams from PDS won last year,” said Marshall.

“I really wanted to win and I had a lot of passion going into it. I was so happy that I came out of that four hour long match being the winner. It meant a lot to me.”

Harnessing her passion on the court has helped Marshall become tougher to beat.

“I would be a little bit more upset last year when I was losing,” said Marshall. “Even in the first set of this final match I was getting a little upset with myself because I didn’t go into it wanting to lose the first set. I think when I am playing and I don’t get as mad, I play a lot better because I am calmer. That is something that has improved from last year.”

PDS head coach Will Asch credited Marshall with keeping her composure in the final.

“Grace represented the school very well; she is a battler,” said Asch. “It says a lot about her character that she is willing to battle out a match like this instead of hitting the ball like crazy and losing patience.”

Freshman Robyn Karchere-Sun displayed character, making it to the semis of the first singles consolation back draw.

“She is learning; a big part of it is dealing with nerves,” said Asch. “She is a young player and you are not used to playing when it counts and playing for your team. They feel it, they want to win for the their team.”

The second doubles team of junior Zaiya Gandhi and sophomore Gabrielle Namouni came through for the team, winning the consolation back draw in their flight.

“We worked very hard yesterday on practice; we got a little break with the rain day,” said Asch. “Gabby is a very good athlete and has started to hit her forehand much better.”

In Asch’s view, working hard at the MCT will play dividends for the PDS players over the rest of the fall.

“It is great for them to make them better players; we are in here to win too,” said Asch.

“We had a couple of close matches that I thought we could have won. The girls fought hard in every match; nobody ever gave up. That is all you can really ask.”

Marshall, for her part, is looking forward to fighting for a Prep B title.

“I want to try and win Prep Bs as well; there are different schools competing in it and I know some of them are really strong,” said Marshall. “I have the same goal; hopefully I don’t encounter a four-hour match to do it.”