Shoulder woes can’t keep Damion off the court

Jill Damion is rounding into form, which is bad news for both high school and United States Tennis Assn. opponents.

The Corona del Mar High junior is feeling better after suffering a rotator cuff tear last fall, prior to girls’ tennis season, and is preparing to compete locally in the Roxy Junior Championships starting Saturday.

Damion, seeded ninth in girls’ 18s, received a first-round bye and will take on the winner of the Kelly Curtius-Roxanne Kaiden (Newport Beach) match Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Woodbridge Tennis Club.

“It’s gotten a lot better. It doesn’t seem to hamper me too much,” Damion said. “It’s not 100%, but it’s close.”

The Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team was getting set to have a dominant season last year before Damion went down with a rotator cuff tear. The Sea Kings still managed to capture the Pacific Coast League title and earn a No. 4 seed into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

Playing the whole season without Damion, Corona del Mar reached the Division I semifinals before running into No. 1 seed Peninsula.

Damion still was not fully recovered from her rotator cuff tear, but knowing the Sea Kings were up against a superior foe and could use any edge it could find, the junior phenom gave it a try in doubles. However, Damion and her partner, Lindsey Norman, dropped their first two sets, and Corona del Mar fell to Peninsula, 12-6.

It marked the second straight year Corona del Mar’s season ended in the semifinals.

Damion couldn’t fully extend her right arm and shoulder in the match and had to serve underhanded.

“It was harder than I thought it would be,” Damion said after the match. “I’ve only been hitting like 15 minutes a day ? I wasn’t really ready.”

Although Damion may always feel the affects of the injury in one way or another, she has come a long way since then. She’s back to serving overhand and following through on her blistering forehands.

“It’s never going to be fully OK, but it’s something I have to learn to deal with,” Damion said. “I just have to prepare myself more for matches. Warm up more, stretch more and take care of my arm more.”

Since the end of the high school season, Damion practiced on her own before playing in about a handful of tournaments ? one in Alabama and the rest in Southern California.

“I haven’t done anything too outstanding so far,” she said. “But I’ve been feeling pretty good, so hopefully I’ll do well [at the Roxy Junior Championships].”

Damion said she plans to stay busy playing tournaments this summer, including competing in a clay court event in Memphis, Tenn. Then she’d like to come back for her senior year at Corona del Mar and finish her high school tennis career on a positive note before heading into college.

“I really didn’t do much to help the team last year. I want to come back and help the team more,” Damion said. “Then I’m looking to play Division I in college somewhere.”

If Damion wins her second-round match in the Roxy Junior Championships, she’ll have an interesting match in the round of 32 on Sunday against longtime friend Logan Hansen of Santa Monica. She said the two haven’t been matched up against each other since they were 10.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to play each other,” she said. “I’ve known her for a long time. She’s always been a top junior player.”

Damion, who finished 2005 ranked No. 16 in the Southern California Tennis Assn., isn’t the only local product slated to compete in the Roxy Junior Championships, which is being played at various sites around Orange County, including the Woodbridge Tennis Club, the Newport Beach Tennis Club, the Costa Mesa Tennis Club and the Mesa Verde Country Club.

Other locals competing in the girls’ 18 division with Damion include Newport Beach’s Roxanne Kaiden, Jillian Braverman, Alexandra Welliver, Lindsey Norman, Jill Casserly and Miranda Young and Costa Mesa’s Brittany Sturgess and Evelyn Wallace.

Locals slated to compete in the girls’ 16 division include Newport Beach’s Alexandria Walters, Hayley Young, Michelle Atkins, Natalie Small and Costa Mesa’s Alexandra McIntosh. Walters finished 2005 No. 19 in SCTA’s girls’ 16 rankings.

In the girls’ 14 division, Newport Beach’s Hailey Hogan, Danielle Kaiden, Melissa Matsuoka and Newport Coast’s Jungyeun Lee are scheduled to compete.

More tournament information can be accessed via www.usta.com.