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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Holland's Inspirational Play at 1st Singles Sparks PDS Boys' Tennis to 2nd at MCT
By Bill Alden
During the first set of the semifinals at first singles last week at the Mercer County Tournament (MCT), Princeton Day School freshman star David Holland didn't look like a top seed.
The precocious freshman appeared to be in over his head as he absorbed a 6-1 beating at the hands of Steinert's Jon Yu last Thursday in the match at Mercer County Park.
Holland, though, fought back to take the second set 6-2 and then outlasted Yu 6-4 in the decisive third set to win the marathon match that lasted nearly three hours.
While Holland ran out of gas in the final as he fell to Chris Hoeland of Princeton High, the talent and guts he displayed epitomized the vastly improved PDS program.
After having been out of MCT contention the last several years, PDS ended up tied with PHS for second place in the team standings with 18 points. WW/P-S took the team crown with 37 points.
PDS coach Rome Campbell marveled at the fortitude shown by Holland. "He was completely out of it in the first set," said Campbell of Holland who entered the MCT with 12-0 record and improved to 15-0 with the win over Yu.
"Things didn't look good but he settled in and came back for the win. He defeated a very good player. It was exciting and it took a lot out of both boys."
Campbell was excited by his team's showing collectively which saw Seth Stein make it to the finals at third singles and Vik Gupta advance to the semis at second singles.
"This is the first big step we have taken in a lot of years," asserted Campbell with a grin. "It's pretty gratifying to have three guys get to the second day. It would've been even more special if the entire team had made it to the semis but the two doubles teams lost in tiebreakers."
Holland's courage inspired Stein as he made some gratifying progress at third singles. "After I saw Dave's semifinal match I was pumped up," said the junior Stein. "I wanted to be that good and to play that well. Dave has really set the tone the whole year; he has demanded a higher level of play."
Stein acknowledged that he didn't achieve that higher level of play in the third singles championship match against Russ Nitzberg of WW/P-S as he fell 6-0, 6-4.
"Russ is a tough competitor and my first set was horrible," said Stein, who was eliminated in the first round at second singles in the 2004 MCT.
"My serving is usually my strength and I was serving horribly. I started to fight back in the second set and I played a lot better. I was happy that I fought back. I got to the finals and I am happy about that."
Stein is also happy about the progress the Panthers have made this spring. "It shows that our program is tremendously improved," said Stein in reflecting on PDS' tie for second at the MCT. "It shows that we can play at the top level and do well."
Like Stein, Campbell sees Holland's influence as a major factor in the team's improvement.
"People work harder when they are around Dave," asserted Campbell, whose club has home matches against Pennington on May 4, Ranney on May 5, and Notre Dame on May 10.
"They see the dedication that he gives to the game and I think they draw on it. It's good for a team to have a big player at No. 1. Everybody tends to rise to the occasion."
Stein, for his part, maintains that the Panthers can rise to the occasion as they shoot for the state Prep B title later this month.
"Our next target is the Prep B," declared Stein. "We can't wait to do that. We have been shooting for that since opening day when we beat [defending champion] Rutgers Prep. We want to get our names on that trophy."
If the Panthers can keep following Holland's lead, they may be in the hunt for a lot of trophies in the near future.
