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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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With MacDonald Wearing Down His Foes, PHS Boys' Tennis Makes Sectional Final
By Bill Alden
He is affectionately called the "wall" by his buddies on the Princeton High boys' tennis team due to his propensity for returning any ball hit on his side of the net.
But senior singles star Graham MacDonald felt like he had hit a wall earlier this spring as he struggled to find his form.
"I was losing a lot before," said MacDonald reflecting his early-season play. "I wasn't here the first week of the season because I was sick and then I was gone during spring break. We had a rough schedule. Now we're playing a lot of matches in a row and that has helped me."
MacDonald showed how much progress he has made last Thursday in the Central Jersey Group III sectional semifinals as he posted a 6-2, 6-0 win over John Cheng of WW/P-N at second singles to help PHS take a 4 1/2 to 1/2 win over the Northern Knights.
"I lost a tough three-setter to this guy earlier," pointed out MacDonald, who will be looking to keep rolling with PHS slated to face Hopewell Valley on May 24 in the sectional final in a match to be played at WW/P-N.
"The last time I played him I didn't hit any of my passing shots. I gave him a lot of problems today. This time I hit a lot of balls at his feet."
MacDonald acknowledged with a grin that he prides himself on wearing down his foes. "My game is to get into people's heads," asserted MacDonald, who played for the PHS boys' soccer program in the fall. "I don't usually hit it fast or hit a lot of winners. I'm a fast runner and I try to get to a lot of balls."
In MacDonald's view, the team's early struggles helped the players fine-tune their games. "We've experienced some tough losses," added MacDonald, who started the season playing at third singles before moving up through challenge matches. "You build on those and keep going. You see why you lose, I was playing this way or that and I lost. I've been playing confidently all week; I'm just kicking it up."
PHS head coach Paul Lynch is getting a kick out of how MacDonald has been playing recently. "Graham is not just getting the ball back but he's putting it in a spot they can't get to," said Lynch, who has guided PHS to a 15-6 mark in his debut season at the helm.
"He's passing guys unbelievably well. He's got a good game plan. He knows when to push things and then take advantage. He lets them make mistakes. When he does draw them in, he's able to put them away."
Lynch is pleased with how his singles players have been putting away their foes down the stretch of the season.
"The last two weeks our singles guys have been playing extremely well," said Lynch, who has senior Chris Hoeland playing at first singles and freshman Matt Ullmann holding down third singles.
"We have played good competition and their games have stepped up to that level. They have played the tough competition and made it look easy at times."
Ullmann and Hoeland made it look easy last Thursday as the former won 6-3-6-1 over Apurva Dabholkar while the latter breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Wayne Jeng.
The development of freshman Ullmann has been a key to PHS' late season surge. "Matt had a tough time at the beginning of the season," said Lynch
"I think part of it was the daily grind of high school tennis, playing five days a week with so many matches. I think that physically Matt is conditioned and he's able to put away matches that earlier in the year he was getting tired."
Hoeland has been the rock for PHS, losing only one match so far this spring in replacing the graduated Ilia Shatashvili at No. 1 singles.
"Chris Hoeland is a great kid, he has worked so hard," declared Lynch of his senior who won the first singles title at the Mercer County Tournament earlier this spring.
"I'm happy that he is having such personal success in his senior year. He's finally at No. 1 singles to show what everyone knew he could do. He's a terrific captain, he gets along with the guys really well. He leads by example. He goes and does his business. The kids see that he is working hard and they feed off of that."
Sparked by Hoeland's brilliance and leadership, PHS has upheld the program's tradition of excellence by again making it a sectional final.
"I think it's important for us to maintain the quality that PHS has had even though this is a bit of a rebuilding year," said Lynch of the program which has reached the Group III Final Four the last three years. "We're still able to put out a quality team. We have a lot of younger guys that are ready to step up for next year."
MacDonald, for his part, is thrilled to have played such a key role in helping PHS maintain its winning ways.
"It means a lot, I never thought I'd be the No. 2 singles player," asserted MacDonald. "There was a spot open after Ilia left but I didn't know if anyone was going to step up. It's nice to step up and finally win the last few matches, especially in states. It's my senior year, I want to see us go really far."
