Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the Week: Dunk has grown into CdM’s leader

Corona del Mar High senior Jasie Dunk has a first name that stands out.

Chris Dunk wanted to name his first child “Jas” if it was a boy.

“Dunk is kind of a unique last name,” he said. “I said, I want to name my son Jas. If you ever met a guy named Jas Dunk, you’d remember that. That’s not a name you’re going to forget. When we found out that it was a girl, I said, ‘Why don’t we just call her Jasie?’ [My wife Marisol] said, ‘OK, but I’m naming No. 2.’”

Jasie’s younger brother Max, who’s a sophomore at CdM, has a more traditional first name. But Jasie doesn’t mind hers, either. It’s pronounced like “Jazzy.”

“[My dad] wanted it to stick out, for sure,” she said. “That’s how he is. I think Jasie still does that.”

The name isn’t the only thing that sticks out for Dunk. The tennis game is coming along just fine as well, thank you very much.

Dunk, the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, has been a valuable four-year varsity contributor for CdM girls’ tennis, the last three years in singles. She’s come a long way considering she was relatively late in deciding to become serious about the sport. She played midfielder for the junior varsity girls’ soccer team as a freshman before committing fully to tennis.

Some might think that her father, who was a two-time All-American at Cal and once held the No. 35 world ranking in doubles, had a big influence. That’s true, to an extent, but Jasie said the choice to become serious about the sport was hers. Still, she has committed to play tennis at Cal, where her father played. Jasie, who has gotten straight A’s throughout high school, looked at Ivy League schools but felt at home in Berkeley.

“Basically all of the signs point to him being a crazy tennis dad, but he’s not really like that,” Jasie said with a laugh of her relationship with her father. “He never forced me to play, ever. When I started playing, that was because I knew that I didn’t like being very aggressive. On the soccer field, I didn’t like hitting everybody. I just merged to tennis on my own, but he was always there to hit with me and coach me and stuff.”

CdM Coach Jamie Gresh can be glad that she made that decision. Dunk has a 43-4 overall record for the Sea Kings, and helped them reach the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals for the fourth straight year. Top-seeded CdM came the closest to making the finals in that time on Wednesday, when they suffered a tough 9-9 (77-73 on games) loss to Harvard-Westlake.

Still, Dunk can be proud of the season she had. There’s more tennis left to be played, as CdM expects to participate in the CIF USTA SoCal Regionals that begin Nov. 18. Plus, as the Pacific Coast League singles champion, Dunk still has the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament, which starts with the first three rounds on Nov. 21.

“This season is really fun,” Dunk said. “Individuals is really exciting. I’ve never been in it for singles before.”

Dunk hopes to make a deep run, even deeper than in doubles a year ago, when she and CdM graduate Siena Sharf advanced to the quarterfinals. She will definitely be one of the contenders for the Individuals singles title as a senior, as will her CdM teammate Danielle Willson.

Dunk is 36-3 in singles this year, with the only losses coming against Kerisa Lin of Northwood, Jadie Acidera of JSerra and Courtney Swift of Dana Hills. In the latter match, a sick Dunk defaulted midway through the set on Monday with CdM already having clinched the victory in a Division 1 quarterfinal match.

She was still battling illness on Wednesday, when she played in doubles with CdM sophomore Roxy MacKenzie. The pairing gave the Sea Kings a chance to win the match, easily sweeping their three sets.

She is committed to the team, and to improving in the sport. She doesn’t start school this year until 9:40 a.m. each day, which gives her the chance to hit for about 90 minutes, either with her father at Big Canyon or with Gresh in Newport Coast. Considering she didn’t even start playing in United States Tennis Assn. tournaments until about two years ago, Dunk has definitely come a long way.

“She gets a lot of match play in with the high school season, as well as doing her USTA tournaments,” Gresh said. “And all of her practices have been very structured and focused, so she makes the most out of her time on the court. Jasie really works hard when she’s out there, and I feel like she maximizes her time that she’s out there. It’s extremely productive. She doesn’t need to be out there for three, four hours a day. She doesn’t overdo it, which keeps her fresh. Just the focused workouts are really a key ingredient to her success.”

Dunk maybe even surprised herself a bit by beating Willson, 8-7 (7-5), for the league singles title at Woodbridge High on Oct. 27. She also had to outlast Ashley Teng of Beckman, 7-5, 6-4, in the semifinals.

“Danielle played really well ... and I was really nervous with Ashley,” she said. “I was just trying to play as hard as I could and as aggressively as I could. It kind of just came together.”

Things do seem to be coming together for Dunk, who has greatly improved her serve this year. She also has gotten more aggressive with her opponents’ second serves, Gresh said.

“I always feel good about when she’s getting into net at least once or twice a game,” he said. “I feel like she’s using her variety, using her ability in the front of the court to attack opponents so she doesn’t have to play a lot of longer points. She’s gotten better at playing longer points, but when she’s at her best is when she’s attacking and putting pressure on her opponents, taking time away from them. It’s just getting them to feel a little uncomfortable, whether it’s using her slice or volleying up at the net, making them come up with passing shots from awkward positions on the court.”

Four years on varsity is a long time. Jasie can be proud of her career with CdM girls’ tennis. When she leaves, she can follow the progress of her younger brother, who is an accomplished volleyball player. His Balboa Bay club team has won the national title each of the last two years.

For now, Chris is enjoying having both of his children at the same spot.

“Jasie is an exceptional athlete,” he said. “She can throw or catch anything. She’s good at basketball, and she never plays it.”

She doesn’t need the other sports. Like her father, she’s found a home between the lines on the tennis court.

Jasie Dunk

Born: April 7, 1999

Hometown: Newport Beach

Height: 5-foot-10

Sport: Tennis

Year: Senior

Coach: Jamie Gresh

Favorite food: Strawberries

Favorite movie: “White Chicks”

Favorite athletic moment: Winning the Pacific Coast League singles title this year.

Week in review: Dunk swept in singles twice to help CdM open the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs with wins over Mater Dei and Fountain Valley.