CB East’s Kaveena Ponamgi rallies to 1st singles win against Wissahickon

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Central Bucks East senior Kaveena Ponamgi found herself in a familiar position Thursday morning – going into a tiebreaker with Wissahickon’s Yi Yi Huang. 

Ponamgi won the first four points of the race-to-10 third set and, like she did in a tournament over the summer, won the tiebreaker to win the match. She won the first singles match 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-4) at Wissahickon High School.

Ponamgi, who improved to 2-0 on the season after sweeping the first singles match against Upper Dublin 6-0, 6-0 Tuesday, credited her conditioning for allowing her to battle back after losing the first set.

“I think I just have to learn to keep my endurance a little higher and make sure I have stamina during the match,” she said, “because (Huang) is really good. 

“It’s important to not get down when you miss a set or something. I lost the first set and I was angry, but I’m really trying to make sure I keep my head level and focus on the match.”

Ponamgi won the first two games of the first set before Huang took the third game in deuce. Huang carried that momentum to a 4-2 lead and the two traded games until Huang closed it out, 6-4.

Huang opened up a 3-2 lead in the second set, but Ponamgi responded by taking four straight games to even the match, 1-1, with a 6-3 win.

“I’m really happy I came back,” Ponamgi said. “The first set I wasn’t too happy with the way I played. I just reset.”

Wissahickon held a 4-2 overall lead before the tiebreaker started, so Ponamgi and Huang agreed to play a first-to-10 third set instead of a full one. 

Ponamgi won the first four points of the tiebreaker and seven of the first eight for a 7-1 advantage. Huang won the next three to get within 7-4, but Ponamgi answered with three of her own for a 10-4 win.

The Patriots top singles player was happy with her serve against Wissahickon.

“I was really working on my serve to make sure the placement was right,” Ponamgi said. “I’m trying to get more spin right now and I was really happy to see that some of my serves were going deeper in the box than where I wanted them to.”

With the 2022 season only two matches in, Ponamgi wants to maintain this level of play all year.

“My goals this season are definitely to maintain my serve and make sure it’s still as strong as it was today and definitely go in for those deeper balls,” she said. “I think once I started doing that and I started using more of my power a lot of them went in more.”

WISS BOUNCES BACK

Despite dropping the first singles match, Wissahickon picked up the team win Thursday. After losing 7-0 to Spring-Ford Wednesday, the Trojans responded with a 4-3 victory over Central Bucks East.

Wiss dominated the doubles matches, winning three of the four contests.

Claire Baldesano and Hannah Yum won first doubles, Tiffany Chen and Vanessa Urzua second doubles and Lilly Gordon and Sevin Wang third doubles. CB East’s Annie Young and Kaitlyn Dooley won fourth doubles.

The teams split second and third singles in their non-league matchup. East’s Leeza Wilson won second singles while Wissahickon’s Nicolette Agassi took third singles.

Wissahickon 4, Central Bucks East 3

1st singles: Kaveena Ponamgi (CBE) def. Yi Yi Huang (W) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-4)

2nd singles: Leeza Wilson (CBE) def. Saachi Mehta (W) 6-0, 6-2

3rd singles: Nicolette Agassi (W) def. Reagen Griffith (CBE) 6-4, 6-2

1st doubles: Baldesano/Yum (W) def. Haurin/Poon (CBE) 6-3, 4-2 (ret. injury)

2nd doubles: Chen/Urzua (W) def. Zhangchen/Cheng (CBE) 6-4, 6-3

3rd doubles: Gordon/Wang (W) def Malobisky/Tepla (CBE) 6-1, 6-3

4th doubles: Young/Dooley (CBE) def. Kumar/Deems (W) 6-1, 6-0