Raider tennis team scratches rebuilding plans BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, North Brunswick’s Gaurav Singh returns a shot with a backhand during his first singles win on Tuesday against Colonia. At left, Gajan Jegnathan serves during his second singles victory. North Brunswick High School boys tennis coach Cindi Totten honestly thought this was going to be a rebuilding year. And who could blame her? After all, the Vikings graduated both their No. 1 and No. 2 singles players from last year’s team that went 16-3 and won a share of the GMC White Division championship. Then throw in the fact that Totten was starting three freshmen, a pair of sophomores and one junior among her top seven players, and the 2004 campaign had "rebuilding" written all over it. Yet, here it is a little more than a third into the season, and the Raiders are a perfect 6-0. And as if that’s not surprising enough, all six victories have been 5-0 shutouts. "With a freshman at one singles and two more freshmen at second doubles, this year I kind of expected to be rebuilding, starting from the bottom up," admitted Totten, who also coaches the girls tennis team in the fall. Of course, she was never so happy to be wrong. The Raiders are indeed young, but they’re also very talented, starting with freshman Gaurav Singh at No. 1 singles. "He’s moved in and really helped us a lot," Totten said of Singh, who’s won his first six varsity matches so far. "That’s been huge." But Totten knew about Singh even before he arrived at North Brunswick. "I knew about him as an eighth-grader," she said. "He used to ride his bicycle to all our home matches, so I knew he was motivated to get up here." What Totten didn’t know, however, was just how good he would be. "I knew he was decent, but I didn’t know he was good enough to play first singles." Then there’s Mike Post and Sardor Gaziev, two more freshmen who moved right into the second doubles spot and are also 6-0. But unlike Singh, Totten didn’t know anything about them until they showed up the first day of tryouts. "That was a complete surprise," she said. And after only a couple of practice sessions with her three new players, Totten began to realize she might have to scrap her rebuilding plans. "After I saw them play for a few days, I was very positive about the season," the fourth-year coach said. "They looked very good." So did the rest of the lineup, which returned varsity experience. Senior Gajan Jeganathan, a four-year varsity starter who played third singles last year, has moved up to No. 2 where he is 4-0. Meanwhile, junior James Lopiccolo, who played first doubles a year ago, is at No. 3 singles. He, too, is 6-0 this season, including a pair of victories when he had to fill in at second singles. Rounding out the lineup are sophomores Jon Glincman and Jan Tagaan at No. 1 doubles, the same duo who played second doubles as freshmen last season. With 14 boys on the team, the Raiders also have plenty of depth. In fact, senior C.J. Driessen and junior Kevin Kang, who both saw some doubles action a year ago, have already had to fill in for one match each at third singles, and won. Senior Jesse Cohen, in his fourth year with the team, provides the team with even more insurance. But as good a start as the Raiders have had, they know there’s still a lot of season left to go. Next week, they face Montgomery and South Plainfield, two of the three teams they lost to last year. North Brunswick did beat South Plainfield in its other meeting, and the two schools were co-champs in the White Division. Then the following week, the Raiders play rival South Brunswick, the other team to beat them last season. But before any of those matches, there’s the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, which begins on Friday at Edison Park on the campus of Middlesex County College. And looking ahead, North Brunswick appears well on its way to a return trip to the Group III state tournament, where they reached the second round last year. "I really don’t know what to expect at the county tournament or the state tournament," Totten said. "With three freshmen in our lineup, they could still be a little nervous. I just hope the experience will be good for them." You never know, though. After all, the Raiders certainly didn’t expect to be 6-0 at this point. They were supposed to be rebuilding.