Zack Kleiman makes contact during a practice at Princeton High School on March 13.
Princeton High School boys’ tennis head coach knows a thing or two about reshuffling a lineup after losing a few seniors.
As the girls’ tennis head coach, Sarah Hibbert and her team went into the fall season unsure of what to expect after graduating several key seniors. The Little Tigers ended the season as sectional champions.
“It was exciting because we hadn’t done that before,” she said. “After graduating six, we didn’t expect to have any sort of results.”
Hibbert found herself in a similar situation with the boys at the beginning of this season. Her entire singles lineup and half of her doubles lineup graduated in 2012.
“Losses to graduation are always tough,” she said. “There’s always that question of how it will work out based on how we fill into our spots and how we play. I think we’ll be able to recover from those losses and still post a good season.”
Last year’s varsity lineup included three freshmen, Rishab Tanga, Adib Zaidi, and Tyler Hack, among the seniors. Hibbert saw positive things from them in 2012 that she hopes will carry over into this season.
Junior Zach Hojeibane thinks having underclassmen on the team can only be a good thing.
“It makes it a little bit easier,” he said. “It makes you feel a little more confident in your team knowing that you have some young players who are really capable and knowing that they’re going to be around for a long time. That’s something nice.”
Several upperclassmen, including Hojeibane, Brock DeHaven, Michael Feeney, and Eddie Zheng, will play more increased roles. None of Hojeibane, DeHaven, and Feeney played tennis last season.
Zheng was the first fill-in last year and ended up playing several key matches after Princeton’s first singles player was out with a shoulder injury.
“Those guys return strong with a lot of experience,” she said. “A lot of the returning players have worked hard. We still have a decent core of players with experience. We’re still trying to work out a few other people who might filter into that lineup, but we’re hoping that some of them will be important players for us this year.”
Hojeibane said he and his teammates are up for the challenge.
“I think a lot of us are ready to rise up to that position, and I think we’ve been waiting for it,” he said. “Obviously, losing seniors is tough, but we’re all stepping up, and I think we can accommodate for their loss.”
As always, Hibbert expects a lot of talent throughout the county. Hopewell, she said, one of Princeton’s top competitors, graduated a few players, but its top athlete returned.
Hopewell Valley is consistently a thorn in the squad’s side. The Little Tigers lost to the Bulldogs in last year’s sectional semifinals.
West Windsor North, West Windsor South, and the local private schools also give Princeton trouble, Hibbert said.
Right now, Hibbert’s main goal is figuring out what each athlete has to offer and setting her final lineup.
“We’ll kind of go from there,” she said. “We want to do as well as we can, win as many matches as we can, and have a good showing in counties and states. Since it is a new lineup, we’ll just kind of take it as it comes and play as well as we can.”
