Girls’ Tennis: Trojans too much for CdM

Just this week, Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis coach Brian Ricker learned the correct spelling of his No. 1 singles player’s name.

Ricker did not know freshman Danielle Willson’s last name had two “L”s in it.

Willson took three “Ls” on Thursday afternoon at CdM against rival University, as she was swept in the Sea Kings’ 13-5 Pacific Coast League loss. Yet, she just keeps fighting for CdM through a very challenging schedule.

“I feel like Danielle has the hardest job on the team,” Ricker said. “Not only is a she a freshman, but every time she plays, she’s playing top-ranked girls. Always with being No. 1 singles, there’s an extra weight. They feel like they’re losing the match for us if they don’t win, but the reality is, they have the much harder job because the players are better on the singles side.”

Willson, a talented junior tennis player who is ranked No. 54 in the Southern California girls’ 16s, said she is having fun in her first year of high school tennis.

“I definitely think there’s pressure, but I think it’s still a good experience,” she said. “I still think it’s fun. The team is nice and supportive. I’m trying my hardest to do well.”

There have been close losses, but also close wins. She won two big sets earlier this season in team victories over Tesoro and JSerra. On Thursday, though, University was just a bit too tough.

The Trojans (9-0, 3-0 in league), ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, are going for their fifth straight outright league title. CdM has finished in second the last two years, and the Trojans want to make sure the pecking order remains the same.

University swept No. 5-ranked CdM (8-4, 2-1) in singles, as seniors Celine Gruaz and Yuki Asami, as well as junior Alyssa Rudin, all won three sets each.

Willson battled for CdM. Against Rudin, she took a 4-1 lead before Rudin won five straight games for the 6-4 victory. Asami was able to squeak out a narrow 7-5 win over Willson as well.

“When I go out there it’s kind of nerve-wracking,” Willson said. “I know I have to win, almost. Usually I’m up pretty high and I come back, probably because I get a little overconfident, which is bad and I need to work on that. But I just need to keep trying not to get nervous, try to work my hardest. I feel like I never can finish the set when it’s close. I need to work on that a lot, because if I were to finish that it would help out [the team] a lot.”

But Willson is gaining fans. One of them is University Coach John Kessler.

“She’s inches away from becoming a stud, a star,” Kessler said. “You can see it. The writing’s on the wall, that girl is going to be a star.”

Others starred for CdM in Thursday’s match. The No. 1 doubles team of Riley Gerdau and Siena Sharf swept, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. And the No. 2 team of Taylor Fogarty and Camellia Edalat also won twice, including a big 6-3 win over University’s top team of Judy Kam and Kayti Luu.

Prior to Thursday’s match, Kessler said that Kam and Luu had lost just twice all season, but they lost twice to the Sea Kings.

“That says a lot about CdM doubles,” Kessler said. “It was a good match for my buddy Brian ... Their doubles did a better job than we did today. First doubles [Gerdau and Sharf] looked really good for them. I think the score was not necessarily indicating how close the match was.”

The Trojans won most of the close sets, including three 7-5 sets and a 6-4. In the last set on court, University’s Rebecca Kim and Michelle Maddox rallied from a 5-1 deficit to defeat CdM’s Shelby Anderson and Paige Kenerson, 7-5.

If some of those tight sets swung the other way, the match could have been tighter. Still, University took a 5-1 lead after the first round. The Trojans were able to clinch the match early in the third round, when Gruaz completed her sweep.

But Ricker saw the progress for Corona del Mar, which finished off a very challenging six-day stretch that included a 15-3 league win over Woodbridge and tight 10-8 losses to Santa Barbara and Los Alamitos.

“I don’t want the players to feel like we’re having a bad season,” Ricker said. “ Those [losses] were close matches. We’re battling, we’re trying our hardest. We’ve came up short in a couple of matches, [but] we’ve won a lot of matches. Hopefully this is going to help us down the road in the playoffs.

“Maybe next time [against University] we can get a few more points, and maybe next year we can end up getting over the mountain. We’re getting closer.”

CdM continues Pacific Coast League play Tuesday at Beckman. The rematch with University is Oct. 21 on the road.