Edison tennis looks to finish on a high note BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer The Edison High School girls tennis team will wrap up the 2007 season this week when Bernards comes to town for a 3:45 p.m. match Thursday. Edison enters its final match at 8-13 on the season. "Things have been a bit tough with the recent bouts of rain," Edison head coach Wesley Smith said. "We were supposed to play a very good Sayreville team last week, but we got rained out. They are the leaders in the White Division, and it would have been a nice challenge for us." In its final matches heading into this week, Edison landed an impressive 5-0 win over Raritan before losing 5-0 to East Brunswick and 4-1 to the Ranney School. No. 1 singles player Erika Goldsmith cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win over her opponent from Raritan and scored the team's only win against Ranney. "She's been a real rock for us," Smith said. "Whenever you can lock down that win at No. 1 singles, it makes it a lot easier to get the team victory." Heading into this week's match, Goldsmith is 20-7 on the year with a semifinal appearance at this year's Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament. "Erika has played some really nice tennis this season," Smith said. "We're looking forward to a very strong senior season." Playing in place of senior Raji Raman, sophomore Fatima Siddiqui moved up to No. 2 singles and beat her opponent from Raritan 6-0, 6-1. "Fatima did a nice job stepping up for Raji," Smith said. "Raji has given us a solid season at No. 2 and hopefully we'll be able to find someone to replace her next year. We're really going to miss her." Sophomore Shivangi Modi shined in her first opportunity to play at No. 3 singles with a 6-0, 6-1 victory. "Shivangi is someone I expect to play for a singles spot next season," Smith said. "We have a nice crop of talented younger players and we should even have a number of players from the JV ranks looking to break into the varsity lineup next year." Marissa Aucoin and Anwesha Sinha got a challenge in the opening set but rallied to take the match in straight sets 7-5, 6-1, at No. 1 singles. Seniors Komal Kothari and Tejal Desai took advantage of their first opportunity of the season and registered a 7-6, 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles. "Komal and Tejal have been program players and have been with us for a number of years," Smith said. "They fought off three set points in the first set to force a tiebreaker and took control from there. It was great to see them get the win." Despite a sub-.500 record, Smith is happy with his team's performance, since it lost only two 5-0 matches and both were to division powerhouse East Brunswick. "The girls always kept banging," Smith said. "We had a couple of opportunities to do some things, but we lost a handful of close 3- 2 matches. The experience for the younger players has been valuable and should bode well for the future."