Girls’ Tennis: CdM’s Willson moves on

SOUTH EL MONTE — A key moment came midway through the second set where Danielle Willson might have faltered.

After winning the first set against Jovana Kuljanin of Murrieta Valley, Willson was serving at 3-all in the second set of Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Individuals round of 32 singles match.

Willson fell behind, 0-40, on her serve, a tough hole to get out of. In the past, this might have visibly frustrated her.

This time, she just kept working. She battled back to hold serve before finishing off a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kuljanin at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center.

Willson, a sophomore, did not lose in the round of 32 like last year. She advanced to the round of 16 for the first time, where she will join CdM’s doubles team of Siena Sharf and Jasie Dunk on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Seal Beach Tennis Center.

“I wanted to get to Seal Beach, and I thought I did a good job of focusing to get there,” Willson said. “My energy was pretty high, and I didn’t really get upset. It’s kind of cool, because now I get to go with Siena and Jasie and see them play too. It’ll be a good experience.”

Willson knew she would have a tough match against Kuljanin, a senior who has committed to Boise State. She said she watched Kuljanin play last weekend at a national-level tournament in Irvine, where Kuljanin made the consolation quarterfinals.

“She was playing pretty good,” Willson said. “When I came in [today] I thought, ‘This is going to be a tough match,’ and it was. I think I set the standards pretty good.”

The first set was on-serve until Willson broke in the fourth game for a 3-1 advantage, then broke again at 5-2. In that game, Kuljanin double-faulted three times.

Willson’s serve was broken for the only time in the match to start the second set, but she quickly broke back. Kuljanin, though, kept putting pressure on Willson’s serve later in the set.

“[CdM Coach] Jamie [Gresh] kept telling me to play a little bit more defensive when it was tight, keep the ball in play,” Willson said. “Obviously, I didn’t want her to break me. I just kept the ball in play and she missed a couple of returns ... Just keep fighting and see what happens. I think that game was a pretty big game, because if she won it would have been 4-all.”

Willson hit a backhand return winner to take a 5-4 lead, then served for the match. There, she was behind 30-40, but again rallied to win the game and the match in a deuce game.

“Danielle was more patient, and I think her mental focus and toughness were more sharp when they needed to be today,” Gresh said. “I feel like she’s playing good defense to neutral to offense, and not just offense all the time. She’s getting better at those three facets of the game: playing some defensive points when she needs to, staying solid neutral and then attacking when she has her opportunities.”

Gresh, in his first year as CdM girls’ head coach, can be proud to have three players make it to the round of 16 at CIF Individuals. Not that he thinks the journey has to end here.

“These have been the three top girls on the team playing singles all year, and I think they’ve gotten better and better and better,” Gresh said. “They all reached the goal of making the finals of the [Pacific Coast League], which is tough. We have a very strong league ... now they’re in the round of 16 and I think they have more to go, too. I don’t think this is their peak. I think just match by match they’re getting better.”

Willson seems like she’ll enjoy the moment on Wednesday at Seal Beach.

“I’m confident, but I don’t want to get too overconfident and be that cocky girl,” she said. “But I think that my confidence has raised because of this [win], and I think it’s going to help me do better in the next round.”