School: Abington
Tennis, Track
Favorite athlete: Rafael Nadal
Favorite team: U.S. Men’s Davis Cup team
Favorite memory competing in sports: “My favorite memory while playing a sport is probably beating the first seed in our league singles tournament. My favorite memory with the tennis team was when we all went to HersheyPark, and while waiting for the roller coaster, we decided to hold hands and sing ‘Fall for You’ by Secondhand Serenade. Over the season, it had become our lucky song, and the cool part was that some other people in line joined in.”
Funniest thing that happened while competing in sports: “Making prank phone calls with the tennis team at states at three in the morning. It was probably the most I’ve ever laughed.”
Music on my iPod: The Fray, Lifehouse, Augustana
Future plans: “Go to college, get a job, move to Africa and practice my career there.”
Words to live by: “Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.” –Confucius
One goal before turning 30: “Learn at least two more languages, one of which is Spanish.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I earned a black belt in Kenpo Karate.”
Sarah Nyirjesy is a cerebral tennis player.Granted, the Abington senior boasts plenty of talent, but it’s Nyirjesy’s knowledge of the game and her ability to outthink her opponent that sets the Ghosts’ second singles player apart.
“Of all the kids I have ever coached, she has such a strong amount of knowledge of the game,” coach Kristy Heyser said. “She can be pretty much facing any opponent and accurately assess them and plan a strategy to try and defeat them.
“She knows the game, and she’s able to approach each match in the best way to defeat her opponent. She’s self coachable.”
If her performances are any indication, Nyirjesy must be quite a ‘self coach.’
This fall, she compiled a 19-2 record in match play for the district champion Ghosts and finished second in the SOL National Singles Tournament. She advanced to the quarterfinals of the District One Singles Tournament and earned second team all-league honors.
In doubles, Nyirjesy teamed with her best friend Laura Del Beccaro – the Ghosts’ number three singles player - to win the SOL National Doubles Tournament, defeating a Pennsbury doubles team that had been their nemesis.
“Two years ago we got murdered, and just beating them was amazing,” Nyirjesy said. “I think we both got a lot better, and we also were really good at strategizing and staying calm the whole match.”
The duo finished third at districts and competed in the state doubles tournament.
According to Nyirjesy, the mental part of the game is crucial.
“In singles, you’re more dependent on skills, but even just trying to stay focused on every point and knowing where you’re going to play the ball and how you’re going to set up your point just gives you a huge advantage,” she said. “In doubles, it makes a difference every single time.
“Just being able to set up the point so that you know exactly where you’re going to put the ball and how you want the play to go is so important.”
Nyirjesy and Del Beccaro both have three different serves they can place anywhere on the court.
“That’s really good for us in strategy because we decide where we’re going to put it before every single point, and the other person will either poach or cover the line,” she said.
It’s hardly surprising to discover that Nyirjesy excels in the classroom as well. An honors student, she is ranked seventh in her class of 640, and she boasts a GPA of better than 4.5. She is involved in school leadership, and after serving as a class officer her freshman through junior years, she is a member of the class council as a senior.
The secretary of Abington’s chapter of the National Honor Society, Nyirjesy participates in the Reading Olympics and also writes for the school newspaper.
“It’s very tough,” she said of her rigorous schedule. “I’m stressed out a lot during the end of the marking period, but I manage, and I’m still able to have a lot of fun.
“Athletics tend to compliment my academics because when I’m competing in tennis – as soon as I come home, I know I have to do my work or otherwise I’m not going to finish in time. When I’m not in a sports’ season, that’s a problem because then I know I have an hour or two to waste.”
In the spring, Nyirjesy finds time to compete in track. She runs the hurdles and competes in the pole vault.
“I just pole vault because no one else does it from my school,” she said with a laugh. “All I have to do is really get starting height, and usually I’ll win the meets because most people don’t pole vault.
“It was a way for me to make varsity, and it’s a lot of fun.”
She holds the school record with a vault of 7’ 6” but quickly admits there wasn’t a record until she came along. That aside, Nyirjesy is a contributor to the track team, but it’s on the tennis court that she has left her mark.
A third generation tennis player, the Abington senior admits she wasn’t sure she wanted to follow in the family tradition.
“I was expected to play,” she said. “When I was really young – probably about three, my parents had me out on the courts trying to play. I never really liked it, and I always played soccer instead.”
When Nyirjesy attended a tennis camp in fifth grade, suddenly the sport took on a different dimension.
“I loved it,” she said. “I guess I didn’t like just hitting a ball – having a whole hopper of balls just fed to me. I went to camp, and it was fun.
“It was a lot of running, and we played a lot of fun games. We played football and baseball every day, and I loved that part.”
Nyirjesy also loved the tennis, and from that time on, she was hooked. By the time she was in sixth grade, she was playing year-round, and she gave up soccer in eighth grade.
As a ninth grader, she was playing singles for Abington’s varsity, and she has upped her level of play every year, according to her coach.
“She has improved dramatically,” Heyser said. “She’s always been a very good player, but as far as her maturity and the way she approached the game, that improved dramatically.
“Just her ability to overcome obstacles and beat opponents she hasn’t beaten before and her ability to come up big when the team needed it this year just has been incredible. Her game has also taken big strides.”
Nyirjesy, who also plays squash, was a team captain of an Abington squad that advanced to the state tournament for the second time in two years.
“I had a lot of fun this year,” she said. “I loved the team, but also the fact that we did so well together and the fact that my season got to keep going – it’s unbelievable. It’s the perfect end to four great years.”
The senior captain played a major role in the success of a Ghost squad that compiled a 13-2 regular season record.
“She’s extremely coachable,” Heyser said. “Through her dedication, her commitment, her intensity and her focus, she’s been a leader on the court as well as off the court.”
Nyirjesy admits she cannot imagine her high school experience without sports.
“Sports has given me my two best friends and lot of other really good friends,” she said. “It’s given me something that makes me known to teachers and administrators. It’s given me something that’s a lot of fun.
“Tennis season was always something I really looked forward to and enjoyed.”
Nyirjesy is undecided on a college but hopes to continue her tennis career at the next level. She is considering majoring in psychology but says, “That’s not set in stone.”
Whatever the Abington senior chooses to pursue, it’s a safe bet she’ll excel.
