Girls’ Tennis: CdM trio moves on
The initial rounds of the CIF Southern Section Individual Girls’ Tennis Championships can often be a waiting game.
Corona del Mar High’s Riley Gerdau and Siena Sharf checked in at 11:30 a.m. Monday at CdM, but the courts were full. They left for food, coming back with Blue Raspberry-flavored Slurpee drinks and some “Cool Ranch” flavored Doritos chips.
A teenager’s metabolism is a special thing. Gerdau and Sharf continued to show they’re a pretty special doubles team. And they’ll have company from CdM as the CIF Individuals continue next week.
After a first-round bye, Gerdau and Sharf topped Carla Mas and Lauren White of Bishop Montgomery, 6-1, 6-1. They then got past Mekayla Erspamer and Lauren Thompson of Mater Dei, 6-1, 7-5. Gerdau and Sharf advance to the round of 16 on Dec. 3 at Seal Beach Tennis Center.
CdM freshman Danielle Willson had a harder path, but also came through. She beat Kayla Kiana of St. Margaret’s, 6-2, 6-3, after a first-round bye. Willson then outlasted Emilee Duong of Placentia of Valencia, 6-4, 4-6 and 10-8 in a third-set tiebreaker.
Willson will play a round of 32 match on Dec. 2 at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center, for the right to also advance to Seal Beach.
It’s the most CdM girls’ players to advance out of the CIF Individuals regional since the doubles teams of Melissa Matsuoka and Hailey Hogan, as well as Danielle Kaiden and Paige Polizois, both made the semifinals in 2007.
“It’s a great day for CdM,” CdM Coach Brian Ricker said. “We have such a hard league to get out of, first of all, and then Orange County is always the hardest section of the five [initial sites for CIF Individuals]. There’s so many good players in Orange County. To get out of here is more difficult, because your second and third rounds are actually pretty tough here, when some of the other locations they’re not hard at all. It’s a good accomplishment to get a singles [player] and a doubles [team] out.”
Willson, the Pacific Coast League runner-up, had to work for her win over the Empire League champion Duong. The two are familiar, as they had played four times before and are friends, Willson said. Duong, a sophomore, is ranked No. 19 in the Southern California 16s, while the freshman Willson is No. 55.
Willson got a break of serve late in the first set to take the set, but her serve was broken twice in the second set.
She got out to a 5-2 lead in the 10-point tiebreaker, but had to hang on. At 9-7, Willson failed to convert her first match point as a forehand was wide. Duong double-faulted on Willson’s second match point.
“It feels pretty good,” Willson said of advancing. “I’m not feeling as nervous as I was in the beginning [of the season]. I think that helps a lot.”
The eight points that Duong won in the tiebreaker were all on unforced errors by Willson. Ricker pointed that out to his player after the match concluded.
“One of the best things about Danielle to me, for a highly ranked player, is how coachable she is, and how receptive she is to my conversations,” Ricker said. “Taylor Dent is her coach for many years. But for example, when she walked off the court today I told her that she won that tiebreaker 10-8, and all eight points she lost were on her unforced errors … I told her that if she could eliminate some of those unforced errors, how easily she could win that match. But she’s receptive to hearing things like that, so she can hear the good and she can hear the bad, which is nice.”
Gerdau and Sharf, the Pacific Coast League doubles runners-up, had less trouble. After taking the first set against Mater Dei, 6-1, they got off to a 4-0 lead in the second set and won easily. Both players have said they like the tough competition that strong teams provide.
“It’s exciting,” Sharf said. “I didn’t think we were going to get to this day, to CIF Individuals, let alone move on.”
CdM boys’ tennis coach Jamie Gresh approached Gerdau and Sharf after they won their two matches Monday, inviting them to hit with the boys for the rest of the week. It made sense.
“Our team’s done, so we have no one to practice with,” Gerdau said. “We’re going to try to keep up with the guys for the next week or so.”
