CROWNING MOMENT: Members of the Princeton High girls’ tennis team celebrate after they placed first of 18 schools at the Mercer County Tournament last Wednesday. PHS scored 25 points to win the crown with runner-up and three-time defending champion Hightstown coming in at 23. It was the first MCT team crown for PHS since 2014.

It was a long day of tennis for Sophia Kim and Lucia Marckioni as they competed in the final rounds at first doubles last Wednesday in the Mercer County Tournament.

The pair of Princeton High sophomores started the day by outlasting Hayden Masia and Hannah Van Dusen of Princeton Day School 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 in a semifinal match that took more than three hours to complete.

In the final, Kim and Marckioni won the first set against Morgan Koppel and Maeve McGowan of Hightstown but then dropped the second set and faced a decisive third set in the competition held at the Mercer County Park tennis complex.

Kim was not surprised that the final turned into another marathon. “We had already played them once so we were ready, we knew it was going to be close,” said Kim. “We were just thinking about making our shots and not hitting it to the volleyer.”

Marckioni, for her part, saw staying in the moment as the key to coming through.

“I felt pretty confident going in, we always have this saying ‘15-0 first, take it one point at a time,’” said Marckioni.

“So it is whatever happens, happens and take it from there. We are also really good under pressure.”

The pressure was on Kim and Marckioni as PHS needed a win in their match to clinch the outright title with three-time defending champion Hightstown just one point behind in the team standings.

The pair’s familiarity with each other was a big plus in crunch time. “We were on JV last year and we played together so we have some experience,” said Kim. “We know how to play together.”

Kim and Marckioni came together, pulling out a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win to give PHS the crown as it ended up with 25 points to edge Hightstown, who came in at 23.

“That feels so good, it means so much more to have the team win,” said Marckioni.

For PHS head coach Sarah Hibbert, the title meant a lot as it ended a long wait which has seen the Tigers fall just short of the title in recent years.

“It is amazing, the last time we won was 2014,” said Hibbert. “I am really proud of how from first singles to second doubles we were able to compete and pick up the big points. We had a really tough draw all the way through and the girls really rose to the challenge.”

Displaying depth, the Tigers reached the finals in four of the five flights with sophomore Bella Lependorf taking the crown at second singles and senior Nicole Samios coming in second at third singles while the second doubles pair of seniors Sora Sato and Ilana Scheer placed second in their flight.

“They all worked really hard, there were a bunch of three-set matches and they really gutted it out,” said Hibbert. “They really worked for the benefit of the team on each point.”

The first doubles team showed guts as they outlasted their opponents throughout the competition.

“They had three marathons in a row because their second round match on Monday was a three-setter against Hun that was really tough; they were down and they came back,” said Hibbert.

“I was really, really proud of the way they were able to rally in that third set. They started strong, continued strong and got up 5-0. We had a little bit of a nervous glitch there at the end when we let a couple of match points get away.”

In Hibbert’s view, a 3-2 regular season win over Hightstown on September 17 helped give the Tigers a boost coming into the county competition.

“It was a hard-fought battle, they played great matches as well,” said Hibbert, reflecting on the earlier match.

“It is really nice for the girls to be able to do this today. We have four seniors this year and we have been runner up or just below to Hightstown the last three years.”

With the state tournament starting later this month, Hibbert is hoping the MCT triumph will have a carry-over effect for the Tigers.

“We are in a really tough bracket,” said Hibbert, whose team edged WW/P-South 3-2 last Friday to improve to 7-0 and hosts Nottingham on October 3 and Hamilton West on October 8.

“Hopefully they will be able to use some of these wins as momentum for that.”