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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
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Hun Girls' Tennis Gains 3rd Prep A Title As It Ekes Out Tie With Lawrenceville
By Bill Alden
It's a measure of the extraordinary success enjoyed by the Hun School girls' tennis team in recent years that tying Lawrenceville last week for the state Prep A team title produced a tinge of disappointment.
"We would've liked to have the title alone but it's better to have part of the title than nothing," said Hun head coach Joan Nuse. "Lawrence-ville had beaten us in a regular season match so we knew that they were tough."
Hun showed its toughness as Caitie Druker cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Zoe Fisher of Blair to win the title at third singles while the first doubles pair of Alex Connell and Anna Wiinberg followed suit by topping Madison McEvoy and Annie MacDonald of Peddie 6-0, 6-4. At second singles, Hun's Hillary Drewry fell 6-3, 6-2 to Liz Bidart of Lawrenceville in the championship match.
Perhaps the sweetest win for Hun was registered by Druker, who was hampered early in the season by an elbow injury.
"Caitie played well," said Nuse, whose program won the state Prep A title outright in 2003 and 2004 and has taken five straight team titles at the Mercer County Tournament (MCT).
"She was really pleased to win after last year when she lost in the final in three sets. She definitely wanted to win the title. She's fully recovered from her injury and is back to where she was before."
The Hun first doubles team of Connell and Wiinberg, on the other hand, has been hale and hearty from the start of the season.
"They were awesome again," asserted Nuse, noting that the Connell/Wiinberg team has only lost one match this season and won the first doubles title at the MCT earlier this fall.
"They have had a nice season. I would say they click well as a team. When one isn't playing as well as she can, the other one picks it up. They never get down on each other and that's important. They definitely have power. I play against them in practice and they scare me."
While it appears unlikely that Hun will match its feat of sweeping the MCT, Prep A, and Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) titles as it did in 2003 and 2004, Nuse is more than satisfied with her team's performance this fall.
"There were a lot of positives," asserted Nuse, whose team will finish the season with matches this week against Peddie and the Hill School.
"I think overall as a team they did well. On different days, different people stepped up. We lost three seniors from last year's team. To have three straight Prep A titles and five straight county titles is awesome. It shows the consistency of the program."
