Dunk a champion
Two Back Bay players who have improved a lot since last fall’s high school girls’ tennis season did battle at the “War by the Shore” junior tennis tournament on Friday.
Corona del Mar High junior-to-be Jasie Dunk and Newport Harbor incoming sophomore Nicole Knickerbocker showed how much they have improved with their skills. But it was a newfound maturity in attitude that helped Dunk as much as anything as she triumphed, 6-4, 6-3, to win the girls’ 16 singles title at The Tennis Club Newport Beach.
After winning a hard-fought first set, Dunk’s serve was broken by Knickerbocker to open the second set. Knickerbocker then held her own serve for a 2-0 lead, and thoughts flashed through Dunk’s brain.
“I was so lazy, so tired,” Dunk said. “Literally, my mentality was, ‘OK, third set, I can pick it up in the beginning.’”
But the top-seeded Dunk did not end up conceding the second set and focusing on the third. Instead, she held serve, which was important in regaining her confidence. It was the first of five straight games she rattled off for a 5-2 lead, putting her one game away from the title.
“I think that hold was really important,” Dunk said. “I was already so lazy and sluggish, and I knew I had to get it over with now. That’s when my positive thinking kind of came through, like, ‘OK, you’ve got this.’
“I think that’s a good example of how I’ve improved mentally. Before, I would stick with that mentality, and that would be my downfall. But now I’ve realized I have to change up my mentality, and that’s how I think I came through in the second set. I just started thinking more positively and confidently.”
Knickerbocker, seeded No. 8, held serve to pull within 5-3, but then Dunk saved a break point and was able to successfully serve out the match. She did not drop a set in the tournament.
It was a good match for the spectators involved, too, which included many members of the Newport Harbor girls’ tennis program and Coach Kristen Case. Former CdM Coach Brian Ricker and recent CdM program graduates Riley Gerdau and Taylor Fogarty showed up to support Dunk.
The match was certainly more competitive than when the two players last met, when Dunk won, 6-1, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last November. On Friday, Knickerbocker hit a lot of both forehand and backhand winners.
“It was just a one- or two-shot difference,” Knickerbocker said. “She’d convert on a good shot, and I just made more errors than she did. The points were good. She just got one more ball back.
“I used to just try and go for way too many winners. This time, I tried to actually keep it in a little more, but I did also go for the shots. I think I cleaned up my game a little bit.”
Both Dunk and Knickerbocker will play next week in the annual Costa Mesa summer tournament, in the 16s. Dunk is again the top seed, while Knickerbocker is unseeded.
As for Dunk, who is ranked No. 38 in Southern California in the girls’ 16s, Friday’s title wrapped up a busy stretch. She was at zonals in Utah, returned Monday night and had two matches Tuesday at the War by the Shore.
Her Saturday plans include a well-deserved break from tennis.
“I have a massage scheduled,” she said.
