Hopewell humming along with new coach
Hopewell Valley Central High senior Shelby Santin (L) stands alongside girls varsity tennis coach Dave Burchell (C) and freshman Natalie Kawalec (R).
By Steve ShermanSports Editor
Taking over for the departed longtime skipper Alma Quinlan, first-year varsity head coach Dave Burchell has the Hopewell Valley girls tennis program humming along.
“We all miss Coach Quinlan but we like Coach ‘B,’” stated senior Shelby Santin. “I had him for JV; he’s a good coach.”
The Lady Bulldogs pushed their record to 4-0 in the CVC Patriot Division Oct. 14 at Ewing High School, posting a 4-1 victory over the Blue Devils.
After going 14-4 last season, Hopewell had to settle for second place behind perennial powerhouse Princeton, which took the top prize. With Lawrence switching places with Princeton in the Patriot Conference, this year could see a division trophy won by the Bulldogs.
“Our goal was to have a winning season and qualify for states; we did both of those,” stated Burchell. “We also want to win our division--that’s looking pretty good for us right now.”
Making that objective a little tougher however, Hopewell has had to win without No. 1 singles player Sarah Walsh, who has been left out of the lineup for the last two weeks, recovering from a concussion she suffered recently at states.
To their credit, the Bulldogs have gone 2-2 without Walsh including a recent 4-1 triumph over Robbinsville. Hopewell won all three of its singles matches. In doubles play, senior Chelsea Marchetti and sophomore Sydney Kobal emerged with a 6-0, 7-5 victory.
Hopewell also kept it close in a heated battle with Hun, falling 3-2 in that one.
“We’re doing pretty well so far,” stated HoVal freshman Natalie Kawalec, who has stepped into Walsh’s tennis shoes in her absence. “We haven’t had extremely tough matches while [Sarah] has been out so we’ve been doing pretty good.”
The girls were all smiles after Wednesday’s match with Kawalec leading the way as she outpaced her opponent Chinemenma Amonu, 6-1, 6-0.
Senior Shelby Santin kept it going with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Marly Paul.
Sophomores Willa Sweeny and Audrey West were winners in doubles play, posting a 6-0, 6-0 win over Tahana Snead and Marcella Morales.
Seniors Cate Lauricella and Abby Mills won their doubles match, 6-0, 6-1, over Fernanda Snead and Rose Marie Griffin.
Pressed into service with the injury to Walsh, junior Alice Kroutikova dropped her match 6-2, 6-3 to Ewing’s Gabby Snead.
With the win, Hopewell pushed its record to 10-8, overall. Entering the current campaign, the Bulldogs took the court needing replacements for Kelsy Johnson and Kylie Smith. Respectively, the two, who have since graduated, were Hopewell’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players last season.
With commencement, the Bulldogs also lost Katie Richards, who played at second doubles last year along with Santin. The first doubles team of Avanti Sharesh and Eva Truen have also moved on.
Though the Bulldogs had to fill five positions vacated by the graduates, Hopewell has been fortunate thus far--lucky they were able to attract Kawalec, a player who plays on the USTA Middle States tennis circuit.
While Kawalec knew she’d make varsity her first year out, she said she was not expecting to play singles.
“Since I played tennis a lot outside of school, I was expecting to make varsity,” said Kawalec, who has just two or three losses thus far. “But I wasn’t expecting to play singles; I thought I’d be playing doubles.
“It’s going pretty good. I’m used to match play because I play a lot of tournaments. So it’s not that big of a change for me.”
Though she lost a few weeks of the early part of the season with a knee injury, among the highlights thus far for Kawalec is a three-set win she posted against Peddie.
“It was a really tough match,” stated Kawalec. “The team lost but I won and that was one of my biggest accomplishments of the season.
Santin, meanwhile, is enjoying the switch to singles competition.
“I liked playing with my partner Katie last year but I like singles better,” stated Santin, a second-year varsity player. “It’s a lot more running around and stuff.”
While Hopewell hasn’t been able to knock off any of the big boys such as Princeton, Hun, West Windsor South or Montgomery, they’re at least keeping pace with an unbeaten record thus far in CVC Patriot Division play. Hopewell won a pair of matches by 3-2 scores pitted against non-league Stuart Country Day School and CVC Patriot rival Hightstown. Marchetti was a winner at third singles against Stuart.
“Our season is going pretty good,” stated Santin. “It’s been tough because we have matches pretty much everyday and we’re playing a lot of new teams that we didn’t play last year.
“There’s been some tough matches with Princeton and Hun but overall, I think we’re doing pretty good.
Personally she said, “I’m happy with my season so far.”
While the Bulldogs made it to the second round of states last year, this season Hopewell was eliminated early in the first round of states after losing to Middletown. At MCTs, two doubles teams made it into the second round. All the singles players were eliminated in the initial pairings.
“We had a tough draw but it gave us some more experience,” stated Burchell. ‘The girls are improving constantly.
“We’re a better team than we were when we started the season.”
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NOTES: Burchell was the JV tennis coach for both the boys and the girls before taking the head coaching position vacated by Quinlan. Burchell coached at Burlington City for 25 years before coming to Hopewell three years ago.
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