High School Female Athlete of the Week: Kaytlin Taylor fitting right in with Huntington Beach tennis
Kaytlin Taylor has a tennis pedigree in her family, but she actually grew up as a gymnast.
Taylor’s grandfather, David Sanderlin, played tennis at UCLA and on the pro tour. Her mother, Michelle, also played high school tennis growing up in San Diego, and her twin older brothers, Dylan and Carson, also still pick up a racket. Dylan is a freshman on the UC San Diego men’s tennis team.
Taylor was more used to tumbles than tennis, but that changed as she grew older.
“When I was about 10 or 11, I had to pick between the two [sports],” she said. “I was doing both, and it was too much time and too much money … Tennis is more of a lifelong sport. Gymnastics, you can get injured, and a lot of people don’t stick with it as long. You never know.”
Taylor knew that she wanted to play tennis, and she’s never looked back. After two years of high school at a hybrid school, Pacific Coast High in Tustin, she enrolled at Huntington Beach High this year as a junior.
That was great news for the Oilers, coming off winning the CIF Southern Section Division 3 title last year. Huntington Beach still boasts a strong overall singles lineup that includes sophomores Cindy Huynh and Solaya Han, but Taylor has fit right in at the No. 1 position.
A year after Huntington Beach won its first CIF title in program history, the Oilers now have their first league title. Huntington Beach clinched the Wave League championship after Thursday’s 12-6 win at Edison. Taylor swept easily with scores of 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.
Kaytlin Taylor and Cindy Huynh sweep in singles, helping the Oilers win 13-5 on Thursday to clinch the outright Wave League championship.
Taylor, a left-hander who likes to use plenty of topspin, has been nearly unbeatable for Huntington Beach (15-4, 5-0 in league). She will be one of the favorites to win the league singles title next week, even in a league in which every team has at least one very strong singles player.
She has a 42-1 overall singles record this season, including a 14-1 mark in league play. Even the loss was memorable, as Taylor said she fought for more than 90 minutes before falling 7-6 (14-12) to Marina freshman phenom Mika Ikemori during a Wave League match on Oct. 17.
“She’s very humble and phenomenal. She treats the coaches respectfully, she treats her peers respectfully, and that’s why it’s all meshing on the bench for sure.”
— Suzanne DeVries, Huntington Beach coach
The set went so long that the Oilers and Vikings were already done with two rounds of doubles before it concluded.
That one small hiccup aside, Taylor has provided Huntington Beach with a stud at the top of its lineup.
“I feel good about it,” she said. “I was expecting it to be really hard for me to play well. I thought it was going to be hard for me to focus with a lot of other people playing [on other courts], because I’d be worried about how everyone else is doing. But I’ve been able to focus on myself a little bit, even when I’m caring about how everyone else is doing. I think that’s the main thing I was worried about, but it’s worked out pretty well.”
Taylor has embraced the team aspect. She has played in each of the Oilers’ matches and attends practice once a week. On the other days, she trains at the Southern California Tennis Academy at El Dorado Tennis Center in Long Beach.
“On the bench, I try to treat them all equally,” Oilers coach Suzanne DeVries said. “I want to have them understand what a remarkable player she is, but everyone has their strength on this bench. She treats everyone just like that, she really does. She’s very humble and phenomenal. She treats the coaches respectfully, she treats her peers respectfully, and that’s why it’s all meshing on the bench for sure.”
On the court, players find it hard to deal with the mix of Taylor’s varied approach, Huynh’s aggressive flat shots and Han’s game, which is somewhere in-between.
“It’s been remarkable,” DeVries said. “It wears the opponent down a little bit.”
Taylor rarely feels worn down. She said her goal after high school is to play Division I college tennis, preferably in California.
Until then, she’ll keep making a difference for the Oilers.
“It’s exceeded my hopes,” she said of her first year of high school tennis. “It’s been really nice. Everyone is great. They welcomed me in pretty easily, so that was nice.”
The Oilers win eight of nine singles sets in a 12-6 triumph over the Chargers that leaves them on top in the Wave League.
Kaytlin Taylor
Born: Aug. 15, 2003
Hometown: Huntington Beach
Height: 5 feet 6
Sport: Tennis
Year: Junior
Coach: Suzanne DeVries
Favorite food: Strawberries
Favorite movie: “The Hunger Games”
Favorite athletic moment: Winning the Woody Hunt South Bay Junior Tournament, a Level 2 tournament, in 2016.
Week in review: Taylor went a combined 5-1 in singles to help the Oilers record Wave League wins over Edison (12-6 on Oct. 15) and Marina (10-6 on Oct. 17 in a match shortened by darkness).
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