Piscataway boys tennis looks to build on experience this season

For the Piscataway High School boys tennis team, spring hasn't been particularly kind in terms of the weather.

Head coach Dana Strafer, in her third year at the helm, has struggled, like many coaches in the area, to get her players outside for practice.

"It's been a little bit of a rough start," said Strafer, who last week said it was only the third or fourth day the Chiefs had been able to actually get on the court.

But Piscataway isn't a stranger to rough starts, and Strafer is hoping that as the season wears on, and the weather gets nicer, the Chiefs will start to blossom. The team lost seven or eight seniors to graduation last year, but not all of them were in the starting seven. This year, Strafer said a lot of the kids who tried out aren't necessarily competitive tennis players, but there will be a host of players returning from last season.

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"I have a mix of returning players and kids that are new to the team, but a lot of them have played other sports or just decided to try out for tennis this year," Strafer said. "We have a mix of sophomores and juniors, and what looks like to be our top seven are mostly kids returning last year. It’s usually a rough start, we start fresh, and then at the end of the season, the kids improve."

One returning player is senior Anjor Tripathi, who will play first singles for the fourth-straight year.

"He just knows the game and he plays a good game, he’s smart on the court and obviously he has a wealth of experience in terms of being a leader for the team," Strafer said. "He’s 100 percent focused and 100 percent there. In terms of his sense of the game and skills he brings, he’s definitely a leader on our team."

Sophomore Karthik Iyer will also return and play second singles. Last year, Iyer was slated to play third singles, but after his first match of the season he became ill and was forced to miss the rest of the season.

"He had a really good challenge match against Tripathi, it went to three sets," Strafer said. "I definitely think he was hungry for first singles, but he's a great contender for next year. He's an experienced player, he has a good sense of the game and he's smart."

Although the season is slated to start on Saturday, Strafer said that her third singles, first doubles and one of her second doubles team has yet to be decided, but "one of the doubles team are going to be returning players as it stands right now," Strafer said. "I think we’re going to have sophomore playing second doubles who is new to the team."

Piscataway advanced to the second round of the state tournament last year as the No. 10 seed in North 2 Group IV. The Chiefs defeated No. 7 Dickinson 4-1 before falling to GMC Tournament champ and sectional semifinals J.P. Stevens, 5-0. Strafer is hoping her team can make it a little farther in the tournament this year, and also have Iyer and Tripathi get through a couple of rounds of the GMC singles tournament.

"I’m hoping that the kids who have played with us before bring their experience with them this year," Strafer said. "We have a lot of kids that have never played with us before, a majority of the kids who tried out are sophomores and juniors, which is good for us because we won’t lose a ton of seniors. It’s a lot of kids who have played for fun, and I’m hoping that the returning kids that are there really encourage the rest of the team to be more competitive."

Notes

Montgomery, which fell to eventual champion Westfield in the Group IV final last year, returns its three singles players from last season, Vishnu Joshi, Vivikth Vemula and Lucas Flotta. The Cougars won the Somerset County Tournament for the eighth consecutive year last year, as Vemula won at second singles and both doubles teams won. First doubles player Eric Wang will return, along with second doubles team Liam Lynch and Phillip Szkudlarkski. Freshman Ishaan Ravichander is slated to play second singles for Montgomery this season.

Junior Damien Ruparel returns for Westfield this season and will look to replace the graduated Tyler Roth. Senior Noah Reich finished 22-4 at third singles last year, while Owen and Matt Bartok will play first doubles.

Highland Park, which advanced to the Group I final last year, returns first singles player Patrick Lin, as well as sophomore James Ouyang, who went 15-4 at second singles last year.

Nikhil Kamdar, who finished 23-0 last season as a freshman, returns for Somerville.

Pingry, which won the Non-Public South B final but fell to Newark Academy in the Non-Public B championship, returns senior Jeff Zucker, who advanced to the state semifinals at first singles last year, as well as won the Somerset County Tournament title for the third-straight year. Third singles Andrew Lee returns, but the Big Blue lost second singles Jonathan Lee to graduation. First doubles player Wesley Jakimowicz transferred to Delbarton, but the second doubles team of Jack Schiffman and Neel Sambamurthy will return, as well as first doubles player Joshua Metzger.

East Brunswick lost senior Joshua Marchalik to graduation. Marchalik, the state singles champion in 2015, advanced to the state quarterfinals last year as well as won the GMC Tournament title. The Bears, which fell to Montgomery in the Central Group IV final, returns Abhinav Bhamidipati, who played second singles last season, and Vikas Dalal, who was third singles. Harold Trakhman, who played first doubles last year, also returns, as well as Kameron Wang, who was second doubles.

First singles Vishal Walia, who helped J.P. Stevens advance to the North 2 Group IV final last year, is gone, as well as second singles Gokul Murugesan. Third singles Alex Telson returns, along with first doubles player Arjun Krishnan and second doubles player Nihar Prabhala.

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego