After numerous Senior Day schedule adjustments outside of anyone's control, six graduating members of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys’ tennis team were honored prior to their early-afternoon practice on what ended up being a mild, spring Tuesday afternoon.
Sid Balasubramanian, Nicholas Brauchle, Asher Joseph, Kanaya Mehta, Aditya Shetty, and Brandon Wu were recognized on Senior Day on Tuesday, May 20, at the Green Knoll Tennis Center in Bridgewater prior to their initial preparations for the postseason.
“I’m super proud of them,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan second-year head coach Evan Rosenberg of his Class of 2025 players. “A 2-10 record and losing is hard, and coming back to set an example for the younger guys is easy to do when you’re winning. It’s really hard to mentally stay there and physically commit to something when things aren’t going your way. I’m just really proud of the fact that they have stuck with it this entire time.”
“This has put us in the position that we’re in to really make some noise – even after a less-than-stellar regular season record.”
You may be wondering why this Senior Day ceremony happened at a practice instead of what typically happens before (or after) a match, as the Panthers originally planned – multiple times.
As part of Mother Nature’s wrath across New Jersey this spring, Bridgewater-Raritan was robbed of multiple opportunities to serve as host for its Senior Day match, including six days earlier when Somerville High School: Tuesday afternoon’s initially-scheduled opponent, was also scheduled to make the crosstown trip to the Panthers’ home tennis courts.
Even more, the Senior Day date, which was six days prior to Tuesday afternoon’s final ceremony date, was also a rescheduled date due to inclement weather, which also wiped away their originally scheduled April calendar meeting.
Bridgewater-Raritan will now focus on the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 state sectional tournament.
While sixth- seeded Bridgewater-Raritan (2-10) was slated to open the state tournament at home against No. 11-seeded Elizabeth (6-7) on Thursday, May 22, with inclement weather in the forecast, both schools mutually agreed to schedule their matchup indoors at 12 p.m. on this date at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison.
The winner of this matchup will travel to third-seeded Columbia High School (6-5) for the second round of the state sectional playoffs on Tuesday, May 27, in Maplewood. According to the NJSIAA’s schedule, the sectional semifinals are scheduled for Thursday, May 29, at the location of the higher-seeded team, while the sectional finals will be contested Monday, June 2.
Of course, barring any inclement weather.