Peglegs Dominate The School of the Future

As senior and co-captain Joanne “Jojo” Cheng set up to serve the game winning ace for her first singles match against The School of the Future in the sixth floor gym, the other matches had already been won by Stuyvesant players with margins of at least 15 points.

This is nothing new for the girls’ handball team, the Peglegs, who have not lost a match this entire season. Every game, involving three singles matches and two doubles matches, has resulted in the players from Stuyvesant winning all five matches.

The game against the School of the Future was just another example of how successful the season has been. Even so, the Peglegs are staying focused on success after the regular season. “We’re used to winning by huge margins, but nonetheless, every game is important for getting into the playoffs. We’ve never been past the second round as long as I’ve coached, but with this senior and junior-heavy team, I’m confident we can make it further this year,” coach Eric Wisotsky said.

Regular season games seem to not cause a lot of stress for Cheng, who is a three-year veteran of the team. However, even after winning her match 21-4 against the School of the Future with 3 kills, she was critical of her game.“I was messing up my left-handed shots, and otherwise, I would have won 21-1 or zipped [my opponent] out,” Cheng said. This constant self-critique and desire to improve has played a large role in the success of the Peglegs this season and has helped them toward their 3-0 record.

A lot of intensity was also shown by senior Seo Hyun Park, who played second singles at this game. She was able to shut out her opponent, winning 21-0 with eight aces and two kills. Throughout her game, she was consistently locked in, seemingly giving an even greater effort when she was already winning by 15 points. Similarly, the first doubles pair at this game, consisting of senior Joanne Chung and junior Ariel Huang, only allowed their opponents to score one point the entire match, winning 21-1.

Playing third singles at this game, senior Vicky Huang won with the smallest margin, yet still finished with an impressive score of 21-6. She leads the team this year with 14 aces. “[I was] regretful that I didn’t win 21-0, as it would be my third consecutive victory zipping my opponent out,” Huang said. She also re-emphasized that even though the regular season is not very difficult and that players get to bolster up their stats, the team is still staying focused. Their next major game is against Laguardia, who have always given the Peglegs trouble.

Cheng also hopes that the Peglegs will face one of their major rivals, Bayside High School, who have eliminated Stuyvesant from the playoffs more than once. She hopes that this is the season the girls handball team will be able to finally defeat Bayside and reach the semifinals or even finals. Cheng thinks that winning a championship this season might motivate more talented players to join the Peglegs, and the team will be even stronger next year.

Although Stuyvesant often dominates their division during the regular season, having only one loss in the past three seasons, Bayside and Benjamin N. Cardozo High Schools have consistently eliminated the Peglegs early in the playoffs. Although the team is aware of this, they are doing their best to build up confidence during the regular season, so they will be in the best position heading into the playoffs.