Girls’ Tennis: CdM routs rival University
The Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team is the top team in Orange County this season.
By what margin?
Quite a bit, if Thursday’s result is any indication.
The Sea Kings blitzed rival University, the second-ranked team in the county, in a key Pacific Coast League match at CdM. Host Corona del Mar had it clinched after the second round and went on to a 13-5 victory, taking over outright the top spot in league and taking a big step in its quest to defend its league title.
CdM earned the top spot in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll this week after winning at three-time defending champion Palos Verdes Peninsula on Sept. 20, seems to be gathering momentum with each match. The Sea Kings (10-0, 3-0 in league) certainly showed their depth against University (6-2, 2-1 in league), which is ranked No. 5 in Division 1.
Consider that CdM’s third-best singles player Roxy MacKenzie, a sophomore who played at No. 1 singles on Thursday, won twice against the Trojans. Then consider that CdM’s No. 3 doubles team of junior Emily Freyman and sophomore Bella McKinney also won twice, coming within a point of sweeping.
It’s depth like this that sets the Sea Kings apart this season.
Senior Jasie Dunk and junior Danielle Willson both swept in singles for CdM, which took a 5-1 lead after the first round and had the match clinched with a 10-2 advantage after two rounds.
“I thought our level of competing was higher today, and it had to be,” CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said. “The kids’ mental focus was really strong. There’s always some tension with the Uni-CdM rivalry, and I feel like we stayed focused and were very resilient in some tense moments.”
Some of those came in the first round, when the No. 2 doubles team of Izzy Dajee and Shaya Northrup beat University’s Sasha Iraniha and Kamar Alajeely, 7-5. Moments later, CdM’s No. 3 doubles team of Freyman and McKinney topped University’s Adriana Pinto and Vicki Li, 6-4.
MacKenzie also earned a 7-5 win over University’s No. 1 singles player, Halla Alajeely, and CdM was off and rolling with the 5-1 sets advantage.
“Listen, Halla is a good player,” University Coach John Kessler said. “Halla beat Courtney Swift [of Dana Hills], she beat Kerisa Lin [of Northwood]. Halla is a good player, so Roxy had a great day today. I’m really impressed with her ... Absolutely, credit to CdM. They’re a great team, and they’re well-coached by Jamie.
“I’m really, really proud of our girls. We played great today. It was some of the best doubles I’ve seen us play this year, we just didn’t win. It’s OK. That’s not just because we’re not playing well, it’s because CdM was playing a little better than we were. They deserve to be the top team [in Orange County]. No one’s even close, from what I’ve seen this year. They’re deep.”
Kessler did get a sweep from his top doubles team of Ashlyn Wang and Kayla Agustin. They edged Camellia Edalat and Brooke Kenerson, 7-6 (9-7), in the first round and they also saved three set points to get past Freyman and McKinney, 7-6 (7-3), in the third round. But these turned out to be little more than moral victories for the Trojans.
Edalat and Kenerson won once before they were subbed out. The substitutes, seniors Sina Schwenk-Mueller and Grace Jennings, also earned a win in the third round.
Everyone contributed for the Sea Kings, who finished a challenging week. They edged out an 11-7 win at Beckman on Tuesday before getting past San Clemente, 14-4, on Wednesday.
“Honestly, it’s kind of unreal, because going through each day you get more tired as it progresses,” said Edalat, a co-captain. “It was definitely action-packed, but it feels so great that we can all come together as a whole and conquer each obstacle that came in our way. It just shows how strong we are and deep we are as a team.”
Corona del Mar will have more challenges next week. The Sea Kings play at Northwood, which is ranked No. 9 in Division 1, in a league match on Tuesday. They are then at No. 8-ranked Dana Hills in a nonleague match Wednesday.
Gresh expects his team to rise to those challenges, as they have done all season so far.
“They enjoy being around each other,” he said. “I think we don’t have any egos. The singles girls are always pulling for the doubles girls, and the doubles girls are hoping the singles girls win. Everyone’s just trying to go in the right direction. Our goal is to make it one round further [in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs] than we did last year, which is the final. If we get there, then we’ll take it as it goes, but we’re trying to get past the semis.
“The girls as a unit are playing better and better and trending in the right direction, I would say.”
