Girls’ Tennis: Sailors lose on games

Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis coach Kristen Case called it a really awesome high school tennis match, and anyone in attendance Thursday at the Sailors’ courts could agree with that sentiment.

The Sailors were playing rival Los Alamitos, and it couldn’t be closer.

Games needed to be counted as the last set neared a conclusion on the No. 2 singles court. Seniors Hannah Blower of Newport Harbor and Catt MacEachern of Los Alamitos were trading shot for shot.

In the end, MacEachern earned a 6-4 win that was enough to help the Griffins rally for a 9-9 (75-73 on games) victory in the Sunset League match.

Newport Harbor (8-8, 4-3 in league) stayed in third place in league with three matches remaining. Los Alamitos (8-4, 6-1) is in second place, also behind Fountain Valley, which improved to 7-0 in league with a win against Marina on Thursday.

All three teams will likely make the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, but Newport Harbor’s hopes of repeating as league champion all but vanished Thursday. Credit the Griffins, who rallied from a 7-5 deficit after the second round.

MacEachern had lost her first two singles sets, neither of which was particularly close. But she pulled it out at the end against Blower.

“It was stressful, but I kind of just like zoned it out and tried to focus,” MacEachern said. “I knew how important it was to get this win, and I didn’t want to let my team down. I’ve been coping with a lot of personal problems lately, and it’s really hard to come out here and play. To be able to just win this right now is really great for me.”

Senior Erika Cheng swept in singles for the Griffins, including a tiebreaker win against Blower in the first round. Freshman Lauren Nguyen won twice in singles, though Blower claimed a 6-4 win against her in the second round.

Case said that Blower, who was involved in three close sets against Los Alamitos, has been playing well lately. On Tuesday, she beat Marina’s Chloe Manouchehri for the first time in her high school career.

“Her game is really peaking at this point of the season, and I’ve never seen her play at this level before,” Case said. “She’s really improved immensely.”

Newport Harbor got a doubles sweep from seniors Taryn Anderson and Eva Newsom, including an impressive 6-1 win against Los Al’s Hailey Hairrell and Alex Sekulic in the first round. Hairrell and Sekulic had beaten Anderson and Newsom in a tiebreaker in the teams’ first meeting, which was an 11-7 Los Alamitos victory.

Anderson and Newsom are now 20-1 in league play.

Freshmen Lauren Lipkowski and Amra Barton won twice in doubles for Newport Harbor, while the junior duo of Megan Carey and Ally Harano won one set.

Elise Rimland and Rachel Davis also won one singles set each for the Sailors, each of them beating MacEachern.

The match was tied at 3-3 after the first round, and Newport Harbor had the aforementioned 7-5 lead after two rounds. But the Sailors were only able to win two doubles sets in the final round.

It set up MacEachern’s heroics for the Griffins, in what Los Alamitos Coach Hannah Holladay called the best match she has played this season.

“They’re always tough at home, but it’s always a great match,” Holladay said of playing at Newport Harbor. “I enjoy playing them because it’s always competitive. But I am very proud of the way our team came out and played today. They had nerves of steel every single round. It’s always tough because they have their crowd out and cheering. It’s a fun environment, but it can be a tough environment, and our girls handled it really well.”

The Sailors have home league matches against Edison and Fountain Valley next week, and close out league play at Huntington Beach on Oct. 24.