Girls tennis: CdM avoids upset

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Just before Corona del Mar High’s Leslie Damion and

Jamie Steele walked onto the court for their final doubles set, CdM girls

tennis coach Andy Stewart didn’t sugarcoat an immensely tight situation.

“(Stewart) said, ‘You have to win or we lose (the match).’ You can’t

get anymore blunt than that,” said Damion, whose third-round victory with

Steele helped the Sea Kings defeat host Newport Harbor, 10-8, in a

nonleague thriller Wednesday between the Back Bay rivals.

In a match tied after the first and second rounds, it was deadlocked,

8-8, with two doubles sets remaining.

To avoid an upset and close out Newport Harbor, Damion and Steele,

playing No. 1 doubles for CdM, knocked off the Sailors’ No. 3 team of

Carmen Khoury and Diana Khoury, 6-1, then the Sea Kings clinched it when

senior Brittany Minna and sophomore Amanda Rubenstein upset Newport

Harbor’s Kelly Nelson and Krista McIntosh, 6-1.

“They gave us a scare,” Stewart said of the Sailors (13-3), who will

try to complete an undefeated Sea View League campaign today at

Woodbridge.

“(The match) was definitely interesting, and I definitely think

they’re lucky to get eight. All the (sets) we got, we really deserved.

They had to have some upsets. Their No. 1 doubles (Nelson-McIntosh) beat

our No. 1 doubles and I think that’s an upset, and their No. 3 doubles

beat our No. 2 (Minna-Rubenstein).”

In a doubles set to crown the match’s second round, the Khoury sisters

defeated Minna-Rubenstein, 7-6 (7-5), after CdM led in the tie-breaker,

5-2. It tied the match, 6-6.

“We were up in the tie-breaker, but we completely lost it,” Minna

said.

The Khoury sisters, who rallied from a 5-3 deficit to force a

tie-breaker, took advantage of three straight unforced errors to square

the tie-breaker, 5-5, then Diana Khoury’s service winner put Harbor’s

team in front, 6-5. She finished off the set with a volley at the net.

In the final round, before the two decisive doubles sets were played,

coaches were counting games in anticipation of a 9-9 tie. The match was

even in singles games, 30-30, with CdM holding an edge in doubles, 34-28.

CdM’s last two doubles victories, however, put an end to Newport’s

upset bid.

“Did we scare you, coach?” Damion said to Stewart, whose team (15-0)

is ranked No. 1 in the Southern California region by The Times, as well

as CIF Southern Section Division IV, in which it is the defending

champion.

Led by senior standout Natalie Braverman, who swept at No. 1 singles

for Harbor, the hosts enjoyed a 5-4 advantage in singles -- typically

CdM’s strength.

Corona del Mar was playing without its top two singles players --

junior Anne Yelsey (sore back) and senior Brittany Reitz, last year’s CIF

individual singles champion. Stewart said Reitz does not plan to defend

her title this year, but could play doubles.

Bonnie Adams and Megan Hawkins each won a singles set for Newport.

Hawkins was replaced in the lineup at No. 3 singles by A.J. Olson after

her first-round victory because of a wrist injury.

“Yeah, it was close, but 9-9 would’ve been closer,” said Newport

Harbor Coach Fletcher Olson, who added that her team’s opening-round loss

at No. 3 doubles, against CdM’s third doubles of Juliette Mutzke and

Katie Tenerelli, was a key setback early in the match.

Yelsey, the defending Pacific Coast League singles champion, said

she’ll be ready to play next week in the league finals.

NONLEAGUE

Corona del Mar 10, Newport Harbor 8

Singles - Braverman (NH) def. Holland, 6-0, def. Snyder, 6-2, def.

Bryan, 6-0; Adams (NH) lost 0-6, 0-6, won 6-1; Hawkins (NH) won 6-3,

replaced by Olson, who lost 0-6, 0-6.

Doubles - Nelson-McIntosh (NH) def. Damion-Steele, 6-3, lost to

Minna-Rubenstein, 1-6, def. Mutzke-Tenerelli, 6-1; Ruder-Dunlap (NH) lost

3-6, 0-6, 2-6; C. Khoury-D. Khoury (NH) lost 1-6, won 7-6 (5), lost 4-6.