GIRLS TENNIS: BRHS Eliminates JP Stevens, 3-2, to Clinch Historic Sectional Finals Berth

BRIDGEWATER, NJ – 37 days ago, freshman Skye Cabatu and sophomore Rhia Evans made their varsity girls’ tennis debuts in Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s 2024 season opener.

With the Panthers’ season on the line in the state sectional semifinals on a very chilly and windy Thursday afternoon, this dynamic duo sent Bridgewater-Raritan to their first sectional championship in six years.

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After top-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan (14-3) split its first four courts with fifth-seeded J.P. Stevens High School (5-8), senior Tvisha Parikh and sophomore Aditi Rajaraman rallied to win game two and eventually force and win a seven-point tiebreak in second doubles. But with all eyes on this remaining court, Cabatu and Evans scored the first three points of the resulting 10-point match tiebreak and never looked back to seal a 3-2 victory for the Panthers in the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 Girls’ Tennis Tournament semifinals Thursday, October 10, at the Green Knoll Tennis Center in Bridgewater.

“It was incredibly stressful, and I am so proud of them that they pulled through,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan senior co-captain Madison McInerney of Evans and Cabatu’s massive win. “They knew that they had their team behind them no matter what happened. They played great tennis out there today, and watching them win was great.”

To start the afternoon across the street from campus not even an hour after school was dismissed for the day, McInerney and fellow captain: Bridgewater-Raritan senior Jess Kozyra, only dropped three total sets en route to wins in second singles (6-1, 6-0) and first singles (6-0, 6-2) against J.P. Stevens junior Neeva Sule and freshman Shinjini Chandra, respectively. With all five courts playing at the same time, however, it was a much different scenario then what ended up transpiring as both teams navigated through went ended up being a marathon, three-hour match.

“For [me and Madison] in first and second singles, we didn’t have the pressure because everyone wasn’t watching us,” said Kozyra after the match. “But literally everyone was watching [Rhia and Skye], and they still pulled through even after losing the second-set tiebreaker.”

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Even more, Bridgewater-Raritan sophomore Mysha Jain got called up from the Panthers’ JV squad prior to the sectional semifinals to play in her first ever varsity match: the state sectional semifinals against this same J.P. Stevens squad that eliminated Bridgewater-Raritan on these same tennis courts in last season’s state playoffs.

Despite as high-pressure of a situation a player could have in her first career match and Jain ultimately coming up just a few points short, she shined for the Panthers on Thursday afternoon to showcase the bright future of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School girls’ tennis program under first-year head coach Evan Rosenberg.

Against J.P. Stevens freshman Sara Chitnis, Jain quickly made her presence onto the scene known with a big 6-2 victory in game one before Chitnis answered with a 6-1 win in game two to force the deciding third set: a 10-point match tiebreak won by the player who is the first to reach 10 total points with a two-point advantage. A seesaw affair ensued between Chitnis and Jain for the first 12 points en route to an early split, but Chitnis took three straight points afterwards to secure a 9-6 cushion. While Jain scored the next point, Chitnis ultimately sealed a 2-6, 6-1, 10-7 win in third singles to put the visiting Hawks on the board with both doubles courts remaining.

“We had Mysha Jain playing in her first match and took [Chitnis] to a third-set tiebreak, and almost came out and won,” praised Rosenberg of Jain’s performance.

Though the overall match outcome still could have gone either way from there with both doubles courts remaining, that huge 10-point tiebreak win for Chitnis kept J.P. Stevens’ state tournament run alive given the Hawks previously fell on both of the remaining singles courts.

Simultaneously, Evans and Cabatu collected a 6-2 win in game one of second doubles already under their belts, while J.P. Stevens sophomores Sophie Sun and Neha Shinil edged Bridgewater-Raritan senior Riya Senjalia and sophomore Vivian Chao, 7-5, in their first set of first doubles. Sun and Shinil ultimately prevailed in first doubles in two games by a result of 7-5, 6-3 to knot the match at two courts apiece. This meant that the duo who won on second doubles would send their team to the sectional championship, while the remaining team’s playoff run would come to a heartbreaking end.

Talk about a high-pressure scenario, in other words, especially given Rajaraman and Parikh found themselves on the wrong end of a match point trailing 5-4 in game two.

Not only did they ultimately survive and extend the match for J.P. Stevens, but they carried that momentum towards a break point in the next set to take a 6-5 lead in game two. However, Evans and Cabatu followed suit with a break point of their own to draw both teams to a 6-6 deadlock and force the resulting seven-point set tiebreaker: the winner of game two being the first duo to seven points plus a two-point advantage per NJSIAA regulations.

Rajaraman and Parikh ultimately struck first and never trailed in the seven-point tiebreaker, and after both duos split the first four points, the Hawks’ pair scored three straight points to take a 5-2 lead and remain ahead for good. Evans and Cabatu tallied two straight points from there to get to within one point before the J.P. Stevens pair took the tiebreak, 7-4, to force the afternoon’s second decisive 10-point match tiebreak.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that stressed out in a match in my life - not even against [state-ranked No. 8 Ridge High School] in counties,” revealed Evans of the stage that was set for her and Cabatu. “I did make a lot of mistakes and I need to work on not showing my emotions as much on the court, but Rosenberg told me not to think about it and that it was a clean slate. He told us to play to our best and not let the pressure get to us, but whether we win or lose, to walk out of here knowing that we played our best, tried our hardest, that he and the whole team is by our side.”

Cabatu echoed: “I agree, especially not letting our emotions get in the way of us, because it not only messes up your head but your body language. A game can completely change from your emotion, so Rosenberg told us to keep our feet on the gas and work hard no matter what.”

With that support, guidance, and when it mattered the most, Evans and Cabatu got the job done.

In fact, they jumped out to a clutch 3-0 lead they never relinquished and never trailed by more than two points during the entire 10-point match tiebreak. While a run of three of four points by J.P. Stevens then got the Hawks to within 4-2, Evans and Cabatu again produced three unanswered points capped off by a ball that grazed over the top of the net and fell in front on the other side: a “lucky surprise” as dubbed by the Panthers, especially given Cabatu and Evans were on the wrong end of two of those types of points late in their game-two defeat.

Evans and Cabatu led 7-4 at this moment, but after Rajaraman and Parikh then scored the next point, Evans and Cabatu went on their third three-point burst of the match 10-break tiebreak to not only seal their dramatic 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 10-7 triumph in second doubles. This win clinched the Panthers’ first sectional finals berth since 2018, when the Panthers last hoisted that section’s trophy along with that season’s Group 4 state championship.

“Rhia and I worked so hard to win that, so I’m just really proud of both of us,” shared of their biggest court victory to date by Cabatu, who improved with Evans to an impressive 13-4 in their individuals doubles sets over the course of their debut regular season and state team tournament.

And in their first varsity seasons for Bridgewater-Raritan, which finished with a 2-10 record one year ago, they will join their fellow Panthers teammates for a rare opportunity in serving as host to the North 2 Group 4 title match: something not even the eventual 2011 and 2018 Group 4 state champion Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ tennis squads had the opportunity to do.

Both of those squads had to go on the road to win their North 2 Group 4 crowns at Westfield High School: ironically, a familiar foe for the Panthers again in 2024.

“I would have honestly never believed that we have gotten this far,” reflected Cabatu of her and Evans when asked if they would have predicted the specific outcome of their walk-off, sectional semifinals victory before they made their varsity debuts 37 days earlier. “We just take it match by match and are focusing in the moment. Of course, we’re trying to win, but we always try to do our best. I’m so proud of how far we’ve gotten, and we’re going to keep pushing to win everything.”

Seconded Evans: “If you told me we would have gotten this far right before school started, I wouldn’t have believed it at all. Skye is a freshman and I am a sophomore, so we didn’t know each other before this. Throughout the last two months, we’ve bonded, which is really good if you’re playing doubles. You need to have that kind of bond with your doubles partner. We’ve practiced, played hard, and we trust each other.”

Reflected Rosenberg: “It takes nerves of steel for them to do what they did with everybody watching. They knew the pressure, that it was 2-2, and that the season was on the line. For them to come out one point at a time, I’m just so proud of our girls and proud of our team for rallying behind them. I love this team.”

Prior to the state tournament, Westfield (9-6) was ultimately awarded the No. 2 seed behind the Panthers, as Bridgewater-Raritan (14-3) edged these same Blue Devils, 3-2, in Westfield back on September 21 en route to winning the Westfield Blue Devil Invitational Tournament. Given the Blue Devils’ 4-1 victory over third-seeded Columbia High School Thursday afternoon in the other sectional semifinals match, fittingly, both the Panthers and Blue Devils will square off again in the sectional finals with a much bigger trophy at stake.

First serve between Westfield and Bridgewater-Raritan in the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 Girls’ Tennis finals will be Tuesday, October 15, at 3 p.m. in Bridgewater.

“This is a collective group of individuals, but at the end of the day, it’s a team and a full-team win,” Rosenberg said. “It’s what I’ve been preaching since I came to this program and took it over: we win as a team, we lose as a team, we live as a team, and we die as a team. We’re going to move to Westfield, get one more performance, and try to get that trophy.”

The Panthers will also get one more valuable opportunity to keep their momentum intact heading into the sectional finals courtesy of their next regular season match at Mount Saint Mary Academy (7-4) Monday, October 14, at 4 p.m. in Watchung.

“We’re going to go in with the same attitude we went into Westfield with: just play it point-by-point,” concluded McInerney said of the Panthers’ next steps leading into one of their biggest matches in school history. “We’re going to practice this weekend and put in the work, try to beat Mount Saint Mary on Monday, and then come in here on Tuesday to do our best.”

“We have no pressure going into this match as we’ve already done so much, so we’ll just try to go and win as many points, games, and matches as we can.”

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