Burke, Cosenza tough to beat
Anna Burke is the shorter blonde, more feisty and super-competitive.
Kendall Cosenza is the taller brunette, more steady and composed.
It is easy to see the differences between the two No. 1 doubles players on the Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis team.
“My personality is really kind of aggressive and competitive, but at the same time, Kendall’s so focused and determined that it levels us out,” Burke said. “If I get too high or she gets too low, we kind of make up for it. But neither of us play well with low energy.”
The energy level was high last week as Burke and Cosenza were in a must-win set at Fountain Valley. Everybody was watching as they fell behind a break of serve early, but rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Barons’ Ruth Nguyen and Vivian Nguyen.
It put the finishing touches on a sweep for Burke and Cosenza. More importantly, it helped the Sailors clinch a 9-9 (72-65 on games) victory, keeping them in second place in the tougher-than-ever Sunset League.
In their third year as a high school doubles team, Burke and Cosenza are also tougher than ever. Their record this year, 35-10, is impressive. Eight of the losses have come against league-leading Los Alamitos or Corona del Mar, elite programs in CIF Southern Section Division 1.
But the wins have said more for the Newport Harbor duo, who are the Daily Pilot Athletes of the Week. Sweeping a team like Fountain Valley, which came into the match ranked No. 9 in Orange County by the Register, said a lot.
“They’ve improved their competitive edge,” Newport Harbor Coach Kristen Case said. “They’ve done an outstanding job with their record and their performance. It blows last year out of the park. There’s just a confidence that they have in each other when they’re competing that’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”
The Newport Harbor tandem met before high school, as they were privately coached by CdM boys’ tennis coach Jamie Gresh. At that time, Gresh was the junior varsity girls coach at Newport Harbor.
Cosenza and Burke played at No. 3 doubles as freshmen, able to learn from the 2012 team’s senior co-captains and No. 1 doubles team, Megan Bathen and Cosenza’s older sister, Kaitlyn. They took their lumps but developed a chemistry on the court that’s now easy to see.
“I think it was really exciting for us,” Kendall Cosenza said. “We kind of came in really naive, not knowing how things worked ... but we did good. It was difficult at first, but we got the hang of it. It was kind of like playing a new sport. We knew how to play tennis, but playing doubles is completely different than singles or taking lessons. It was a big step for us.”
Last year, Kaitlyn, now a sophomore at TCU, passed the torch to Kendall. A younger Cosenza earned the No. 1 doubles spot.
Kendall Cosenza and Burke excelled, reaching the Sunset League doubles individuals semifinals and pushing the eventual champions, Sydney Bott and Erika Cheng of Los Alamitos.
“I think getting third in individuals kind of showed us our potential for what we can do this year,” Cosenza said. “It set the bar higher for us ... [but] doing it for our team is what pushes us to really work harder and improve everyday.”
Burke might seem cocky on the court. In reality, she is very grounded. She was born in Belarus and moved to Southern California at about 5 years old when her mother, Iryna, remarried. Her legal last name is Ramashkevich, but she often uses the last name of her stepfather, Pascal Burke.
She has gone back to Belarus often to visit family.
“Everything about the society is completely different,” she said. “The people there are so nice, especially compared to here. So nice, so humble, so appreciative of everything, so welcoming. It just completely humbles you and makes you appreciate everything about where you live.
“I am very multicultural and I appreciate that part of me. My mom is very Belarusian, and she constantly brings you back in check, [tells me to] remember where you’re from, remember your values. I think that’s shaped me a lot as a person.”
Burke and Cosenza now have a different set of senior co-captains, Annie LaGrandeur and Courtney Howarth. All four Sailors play doubles and are helping to lead Newport Harbor, which plays Huntington Beach and Edison next week before wrapping up league play with a big rematch against Fountain Valley on Oct. 27. The Sailors most likely have to beat Fountain Valley again at home to clinch outright second place in league, and the subsequent designation for the Division 1 playoffs.
Then will come the Sunset League doubles tournament, where Burke and Cosenza know they might see Los Al’s Bott and Cheng again. Bott is a two-time league doubles champion, also winning it with Sarah Edwards in 2012.
“I think it’s going to come down to kind of the same position as last year,” Burke said. “We’re going to see a lot of the Los Al players, and we’re definitely putting up a fight for it. We’re taking the one or two position. We’re going into the finals, all the way.”
That leap would mean that Burke and Cosenza qualify for the next step, CIF Individuals, for the first time. Cosenza saw her older sister and Bathen make it there two years ago.
At this point, nothing would really surprise Case.
“They’ve shown better positive energy,” said Case, who made the CIF individuals doubles final in 1998 for Newport Harbor with partner Audra Adams. “Doubles is a two-way street. They do a great job of supporting one another.”
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Anna Burke
Born: Dec. 2, 1997
Hometown: Dana Point
Height: 5-foot-4
Sport: Tennis
Year: Junior
Coach: Kristen Case
Favorite food: Asian food
Favorite movie: “Into the Wild”
Favorite athletic moment: Placing third with partner Kendall Cosenza at the Sunset League doubles tournament last year.
Week in review: Burke and Cosenza went a combined 6-0 at No. 1 doubles as Newport Harbor earned big Sunset League wins, 12-6 at Edison and 9-9 (72-65) at Fountain Valley.
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Kendall Cosenza
Born: Jan. 12, 1998
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-6
Sport: Tennis
Year: Junior
Coach: Kristen Case
Favorite food: Mango
Favorite movie: “The Parent Trap”
Favorite athletic moment: The energy that Cosenza and partner Anna Burke had in the first round of Newport Harbor’s match against Los Alamitos on Tuesday.
Week in review: Cosenza and Burke went a combined 6-0 at No. 1 doubles as Newport Harbor earned big Sunset League wins, 12-6 at Edison and 9-9 (72-65) at Fountain Valley.
