Princeton Day School girls tennis team looks to build off sectional championship

PRINCETON, N.J. — The Princeton Day School (PDS) Girls Tennis team will be swinging their racquets with redemption on their mind this season. The returning sectional champions ended last season with a bitter taste in their mouths after a loss to Pingry School of Basking Ridge in the State Finals. 

Coach Michael Augsberger will be returning for his second season with PDS. He has a background in tennis and baseball which helped mold his competitive spirit and will to win. 

The team will have a lot on their plate this year in order to return to a high level of play because of the rigor that comes with playing in Mercer County. With roughly 20 schools in the county, the PDS tennis team is on par with the best of them and will be looking to prove this once again as the season moves forward. 

The girls team is returning seven varsity players and will be looking for a few rookies to make the cut as well. One of the returners is Neha Khandkar who is held in high regard by Augsberger. He said, “Neha is the ideal leader by example for any team and we will feed off her performance and mental fortitude.” 

Ashlyn Du is another player to be on the lookout for this season. She didn’t see much time on the court last year but is a fierce competitor and looking to make her name known this time around.

Young players such as Kavina Amin and Arya Kalra impressed in their debuts last year which gives Augsberger hope that the team will be deep and ready to compete at the highest level. 

Hannah Park is a junior and a returning member of the team who has high expectations for herself and her teammates. When asked about the best advice she has received from a coach or mentor she responded with “practice makes permanent.”

Nobody can be perfect, but this team is looking to have a season that will live permanently in the record books. 

Augsberger doesn’t name official captains for his teams, but instead allows the leadership roles to emerge naturally, which is something that can build the team’s chemistry. In order to build the team’s culture, Augsberger said he likes to keep the tension light on his players while making sure that each repetition is taken seriously. He understands that his players may stress themselves over the thought of competing to the best of their abilities. One of the ways that he offsets his players’ stress levels is by making the tryout process longer than a lot of other programs. It may seem as though a longer tryout period would add to the stress and frustration, but it actually allows the players to relax and realize that one bad day isn’t detrimental. This type of tryout allows the players to bring their A game on a consistent basis and have the confidence to bounce back when things aren’t going their way. 

Last year the girls at PDS sported a record of 22-24 in singles and 16-14 in doubles. The doubles record is a combination of the depth of the team and the doubles expertise that Assistant Coach Jon Brown possesses. In singles the girls can hold their own but in the words of Augsberger they need that “killer edge” in order to find the right times to be aggressive on offense to win points. This is an area where they will look to Neha Khankar to lead the charge and set a good example. 

The season looks bright for the Panthers this year, but the overall success of their season will be measured by their performance in three tournaments. The first is the Mercer County tournament which takes place mid-season. This is followed by the Prep B state tournament at the end of the year. The most important tournament is the New Jersey State tournament which will cap off the season. This is where the team looks to avenge their finals loss from last year and be the last team standing. 

With the help of a great coaching staff, a relentless work ethic and strong leaders, the girls tennis team at the PDS should have an exciting season ahead of them. Make sure to tune in and follow them to see their hard work pay off.

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