Kind, respectful, and responsible.
These three words can be found on numerous posters throughout Bridgewater-Raritan High School, but three other core principles are also paramount both on and off of the Panthers’ campus.
Professionalism, integrity, and honesty – especially when it appears that others are not watching.
“Honesty is really important, and it is definitely enforced in our classes at Bridgewater-Raritan,” declared Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ varsity tennis starter Aadhya Rakesh: one of four graduating senior members of the Class of 2027 on the Panthers’ squad. “You do not want to cheat or break any academic integrity [rules and regulations in the classroom], but taking that onto the tennis court is important as well.”
“You need to make honest out calls, play fairly with your team, and play fairly against your opponent.”
Although only 16 days had elapsed in the young 2026-27 academic year heading into Wednesday evening, Bridgewater-Raritan’s girls’ tennis players have already taken advantage of many opportunities to apply these valuable life lessons both inside and outside of the classroom, notably on the tennis court during what has felt like one of the NJSIAA’s quickest seasons in recent memory.
In fact, before September even concluded, New Jersey’s first of many state tournaments launched for girls’ tennis.
And in the end, the Panthers’ persistence in their shorter-than-usual regular season was rewarded.
After earning its bracket’s last bye out of the play-in round thanks to its strength of schedule, eighth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan made a statement with a 5-0 victory over ninth-seeded Bayonne High School (10-2) in the first round of the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Group 4, Girls’ Tennis Tournament Wednesday, September 30, at the Green Knoll Tennis Center in Bridgewater.
“Most of our girls have been in our program for a while, so they know the nature of the conference that we’re in and the competition that we face every single match,” said afterwards by Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Evan Rosenberg, whose girls’ squad has now won its state tournament opener in each of his three fall seasons in charge. “A loss for us is not the same as a loss for 95 percent of the state. It takes a lot of buy-in for that, because losing is not fun, but the way we lost this year and how close we were this year helped. Our previous match against Rutgers Prep was not counted in the [state tournament seeding], but that’s a testament to our mindset and our buy-in since that is a match we lost 3-2 here [on September 10] very close. We went over there [on September 29], played much better, and won 4-1. That was the best match we played by far as a team from top to bottom all season. I told them on the bus that they were happy, they were great, and I said that this is how the rest of the season is going to go.”
“This is where it starts to pay off, and I think we saw it today.”
After Bridgewater-Raritan (5-7, 3-7) then defeated division rival Hillsborough High School (4-11, 0-9) at home the following evening, 3.5-1.5, for its first regular-season series sweep of the Raiders since 2019, the Panthers’ three match victories in as many days to begin October could not have come at a better time.
Eighth-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan therefore has a wave of momentum and confidence heading into its NJSIAA North New Jersey, Group 4, Girls’ Tournament quarterfinals showdown at top-seeded J.P. Stevens High School (10-3), which will serve as host to the Panthers at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, October 6, on its campus in Edison.
The Hawks have three state sectional championships (1976, 2004, 2006) in program history, while Bridgewater-Raritan has been crowned state sectional champion six times (1989, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2018). This includes two state championships (2011, 2018) and one of its state sectional titles as Bridgewater-Raritan High School East in 1989 prior to the 1991 merger to the present-day Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
Given the Panthers have only outright dropped two of its 15 individual courts heading into J.P. Stevens, they will be extra motivated to add to their trophy case while navigating their side of the bracket. Two-time reigning state sectional champion Westfield High School (8-4-1): the No. 2 seeded North, Group 4 squad, is on the other side of the Panthers’ bracket, meaning both teams would have to win their next two matches to square off in the state sectional finals.
In Wednesday evening’s state tournament opener, Rakesh and her second doubles partner: senior classmate Mysha Jain, defeated Bayonne seniors Adrinelis Pimentel and Parnika Agarwal by a score of 6-1, 6-0. Since September 15, when the duo reunited on the court full time for the first time since being doubles partners as underclassmen, Rakesh and Jain have won four of their seven individual bouts. One of their three losses this season came via a 10-point match tiebreak that could have gone either way.
Another came against New Jersey’s top-ranked squad in Skyland Conference Delaware Division rival Pingry School (11-0, 9-0), but that is pretty understandable.
After all, no challenger has won a single court this season against Pingry, which has also won an impressive 70 consecutive team matches going back to the fall of 2022: two seasons prior to Rosenberg’s first season as Bridgewater-Raritan’s head coach.
“Mysha and I were actually doubles partners in both of our freshman and sophomore years, so it’s been really easy and fun to pick back up where we left off,” Rakesh went on to say of her duo’s chemistry.
“We work really well together, communicate really well on the court, and are able to call which balls we want to hit and the balls we want the other person to hit.”
In first doubles, junior Skye Cabatu and freshman Abha Eswaraka won by a score of 6-2, 6-0 against Bayonne senior Leanna Yun and freshman Kenzy Noseir.
Bridgewater-Raritan senior Rhia Evans: Rakesh’s doubles partner last season who moved to third singles this season, posted a victory of 6-1, 6-0 against Bayonne sophomore Nina Rubino to improve her individual record to 7-5 in the Panthers’ 12 team matches.
“It’s really great to see her move up to singles, and I think she is doing really well.” Praised Rakesh of Evans. “It was really fun to play doubles with her, but I’m really glad that she was able to move up.”
“I hope she’s really proud of herself, because I’m really proud of her.”
In second singles, Bridgewater-Raritan senior Neha Ashok collected a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Bayonne junior Giselle Quintos. Freshman Evelyn Ma rounded out the Panthers’ state tournament sweep with a clean 6-0, 6-0 sheet of her own against Bayonne junior Avery Downey.
Ma also has produced a record of 7-5 at the first singles spot: one of the most stacked positions in all of Somerset County and in New Jersey overall. That is especially true since Ma and the Panthers’ two other freshmen: Eswaraka and Audrey Zhang, are not even one month into their promising tenures as student-athletes at Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
“It can be really difficult to manage tennis, schoolwork, and other extracurricular activities,” Jain advised about balancing daily life as a student-athlete in the fall season immediately after summer vacation, especially given the transition from middle school to high school for any freshman playing a fall sport. “As soon as you get home, you need to make sure you get all of your work done and do not procrastinate, but you need to manage a good schedule with your work.”
“It’s really crazy how fast the time has gone, but we’ve been handling it well so far and making the best of what we have.”
Not only do all of Bridgewater-Raritan’s tennis players have loaded classroom schedules in the midst of a short fall season, but their heavy competition alone amongst their loaded Skyland Conference Delaware Division consisting of Pingry, Hillsborough, Rutgers Preparatory School, and Ridge High School has proven to pay dividends. Including the Panthers, all six teams in this division have continued to back their claims of being amongst the best division in all of New Jersey, as this group went a perfect 6-0 in their state tournament openers.
Even more, Rutgers Prep did so in upset fashion as the No. 10 seed in the NJSIAA South New Jersey, Non-Public, Girls’ Tennis Tournament, as the Argonauts won at seventh-seeded St. Rose High School, 5-0, on Wednesday evening down the Jersey Shore.
This was also after the Panthers avenged their earlier regular-season loss to this same Argonauts team on September 29 in Somerset, which essentially set the stage for Bridgewater-Raritan’s current state tournament run.
On top of this, the Panthers have fierce competition within their own program, including at the junior varsity (J.V.) level under the direction of assistant coach Xavier Brooks, who is also Bridgewater-Raritan’s head girls’ basketball coach in the winter. With J.V. exclusively competing in doubles, its five courts consist of 10 players: three more than the traditional varsity setup of three singles courts and two doubles courts (seven total players).
In other words, with a minimum of 17 players potentially engaged in matches at either the varsity or J.V. level on any given match day, everyone has to continue to earn their varsity spots at every Bridgewater-Raritan’s practice.
All of this has certainly prepared the Panthers’ current varsity lineup for long-term success, but a deep foundation lies below for a squad that is consistently able to reload at any given moment and in any given season.
“We have a lot of girls who deserve to make it [to varsity] who haven’t made it, but it’s great having so much competition and being able to fight for your spot,” Jain said of this setup.
“I’m really happy with the team we have here.”
After the conclusion of the fall girls’ season, Rosenberg also will be slated to enter his fourth spring in charge of the Panthers’ boys’ tennis program, which has also advanced in the state tournament in each of his three previous seasons under his leadership.
“We create a foundation for accountability, commitment, and ownership,” concluded Rosenberg on Wednesday evening. “We not only preach it, but we practice it. When I took over this program, I had a lot of goals for making it more of a team aspect than an individual aspect. This match ended 25 minutes ago, and our team is still sitting here together, and I was not sure that was going to happen immediately after I took over. Any time you instill new things, it takes some time, but our girls have bought in now and over the years.”
“We’re starting to see the results of it with our squad now.”