A Bittersweet Ending Marks a New Beginning for the Peglegs

One more overpass, one more netball, or one more mistake, and it would all be over. Time came to a standstill as the last table tennis match of the evening played out against the background of the Hudson. Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity table tennis team, the Peglegs, lost against Flushing Campus in their first playoff game on January 16th, marking the end of the season for the team.

After the Peglegs’ triumph against Susan Wagner High School and Staten Island Tech in the Division I League in the regular season, they ranked second place in the division, right behind Millennium High School, their longtime rival. The team’s future seemed favorable, with decisive recent 5-0, 5-0, and 3-1 victories under the belt as they proceeded to playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. However, they went into playoffs against seventh seed Flushing Campus as the lower seed. Flushing Campus was able to secure two more victories because they had an extra team in their league. It appeared the two teams were evenly matched, with outcomes that could’ve easily shifted in favor of either team. In doubles, the Peglegs lost 3-2, showcasing the narrow margin that separated a win and a loss.

Despite the fact that the team was still recovering from the enormous blow of the previous year’s seniors leaving, the Peglegs’ early defeat came as a shock to the team because in previous years, they’d easily dominated their playoff opponents with consistent win records of 5-0 or 4-1. “It feels pretty bad. The team is relatively new and still, every year, we made at least semifinals,” said junior and captain Katherine Lee, referring to the fact that table tennis at Stuyvesant was instituted less than a decade ago.

With the exception of a select few who’d been on the team for more than just one year, the majority of the team are spring chicken. “Much of the team was very nervous about their first playoff games, especially since five of the seven starters haven’t played in a starting position before,” said junior and co-captain Allison Eng. Though in league games, a lack of experience shrouded by success might be no harm, the playoffs are inherently different and demand more maturity and mental game than the starting underclassmen had to give.

Still, the team has mustered up morale and looks forward to a brighter next season. “This season was honestly a rebuilding season, and we didn’t do badly considering rebuilding teams never get back into playoffs. Everyone was just learning and adjusting to their place on the team,” said Eng.

With changes on the horizon like the retirement of Coach Eric Wisotsky, the team will undergo a metamorphosis and hopefully, reemerge as a more confident one. Both captains believe these developments will be for the better. “There was poor communication between the coach and the team,” said Lee.

“A new coach will rejuvenate vibes and create a stronger bond between everyone. We expect to have more practices and definitely improve by next season,” said Eng. With ambition in hand, the team aims to reach playoff finals next year, and let the current captains depart on a high note.