Princeton Boys Tennis Place 5th in Mercer County Tournament

A second-place finish by Princeton High School boys tennis team members Jesse Chai and Akash Khanolkar highlighted the teams performance at the recent Mercer County Tournament . 

Chai and Khanolkar were defeated in the final match by West Windsor South's Thomas Weng and Abhinay Tumati, 6-4, 6-4.

Eddie Percarpio placed fourth at second singles. The second doubles team of Kevin Qui and Eddy Zheng also placed fourth.

"We did pretty well," Princeton Coach Sarah Hibbert said. "Our first and second singles players had tough draws and got seeded players in the first round. Our second singles player (Percarpio) knocked off a seeded player."

After losing his opening round match, Robert Zhao went into the backdraw and won his remaining matches at first singles.

"He (Zhao) did a nice job," Hibbert noted. "Sometimes, you get a tough draw. He rebounded and played well."

Julian Edgren competed at third singles.

Princeton finished fifth of 16 teams with 13.5 points  West Windsor South won with 23.5  points, followed by Hopewell  with 17 points, West Windsor North with 15.5 points and Pennington with 14.5 points and 14 1/2.

"We might have placed fifth, but we were very competitive," Hibbert said. "We were only two points out of third."

Princeton is 6-0 for the regular-season.

Princeton has only lost two of its 30 contested matches this season. Rammy Bekhiet and Sammer Bekhiet won at first and second singles for Robbinsville. Julian Edgren won at third singles and Princeton's two doubles teams won 3-2 on April 13.

"One of those losses, Eddie (Percarpio) reversed in the county tournament," Hibbert said.

On April 7, Princeton defeated Nottingham, 5-0. On April 11, the team defeated Trenton, 5-0. On April 14, 15 and 29, the team defeated Allentown, 5-0, Hamilton 5-0 and Ewing 5-0, respectively. 

"We have much tougher competition coming up this week," Hibbert said. "Hopefully, we'll play well. We should see where we stand by the end of the week."

Princeton is scheduled to face West Windsor South on May 2, West Windsor North on May 4 and Hightstown on May 5.

The team is trying to build up its seed for the upcoming Central Jersey Group III Tournament. Last year, Princeton was 14-7 overall and managed a state tournament win.

Hibbert said Hopewell and Holmdel are the biggest challenges in the Central Jersey Group III field.

"Holmdel knocked us out last year," Hibbert said. "They are a strong team. The last I looked, Holmdel was 17-1."