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PDS Boys' Tennis Off to Good Start, Looking to Make Statement at MCT

By Bill Alden

With plenty of talent at his disposal, Rome Campbell came into this spring with some lofty expectations for his Princeton Day School boys' tennis team.

Although the Panthers have gotten out of the gate with a 9-3 start, Campbell will tell you that the team hasn't reached its potential.

"We've had some good wins but we've also had some bad losses," said Campbell, whose club has lost to Lawrenceville, Princeton High, and Germantown Academy. "We're on a good roll but we really haven't beaten anyone really substantial. We've been inconsistent."

PDS does have a model of consistency in its precocious freshman David Holland, who is 12-0 at first singles. "David has been outstanding, he's been enjoyable to watch," said Campbell, whose team topped crosstown rival Hun 4-1 last Monday.

"He hasn't really been pushed yet this spring. All of his matches have been two sets and the most games he's given up has been 10 (in a 7-6, 6-4 win over Princeton High star Chris Hoeland.)"

PDS has gotten good, if not spectacular work, from second singles Vik Gupta (10-2 record) and third singles Seth Stein (9-3).

"Vik has been playing better lately," said Campbell, referring to the talented senior who also has played basketball and soccer at PDS. "He changed his backhand from a chop to topspin and that has helped him a lot. He needs to be more aggressive. Seth has been good. He has only three losses and two were disappointing as he lost 0 and 3."

At doubles, Campbell concedes that both his first pair of Bo Marshall and Neil Sharma and his second duo of Neil Sharma and Pat Murphy are works in progress.

"The second doubles is gelling, they are becoming a team," added Campbell. "The first team needs to play more; they should be together the rest of the season."

Campbell is hoping his charges will raise their level of play at this week's Mercer County Tournament (MCT), which is slated to start on April 26 and conclude on April 28.

The Panthers have already earned respect through the MCT seedings. In singles, Holland earned the No. 1 seed while Gupta and Stein were both seeded third. In doubles, the team of Marshall and Sharma was seeded fourth while the pair of Sharma and Murphy was ranked fifth.

Campbell is hoping his players can live up to those rankings. "That is our best showing as far as seeds in a long time," said Campbell, whose team is also slated to host Pingry on May 3.

"We haven't been seeded in the top five in all five flights for a while. Everybody has a winning record, that shows good play throughout the team. Our first goal was to get people seeded. The second goal is to get a lot of kids making it to the second day."

If PDS succeeds in that latter goal, it could be the first of many special days this spring.