La Cañada tennis’ McKenzie takes league runner-up
Though the La Cañada High girls’ tennis team produced two of the four singles semifinalists at Thursday afternoon’s Rio Hondo League individual tournament, winning a championship would be no easy task.
That proved to be the case at Arcadia County Park as San Marino freshman Anessa Lee defeated La Cañada sophomore Sophie McKenzie, 6-3, 6-0, on an afternoon when Spartans freshman teammate Annabelle Kevakian rallied from a semifinal defeat to take third place.
Lee’s victory marked the third straight year a San Marino player won the individual crown following back-to-back titles from Devon Jack.
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McKenzie, who won the league’s doubles championship last season with sister Cassie, was trying to become the third Spartans player to win an individual title this century and join Kim Gilmour (2001) and older sister Ally McKenzie (2013).
“I could have definitely played better than I did,” McKenzie said. “I just made way too many unforced errors. I just handed her the match and it’s harsh and hard to accept.”
The matchup was a joining of the league’s top two seeds. Lee entered top-ranked and had defeated McKenzie twice this season, including when McKenzie used a borrowed club in the duo’s last meeting on Oct. 20 at San Marino, which helped Lee notch a 6-0 victory.
“I had confidence going into [Thursday’s] match because the last two times I played Sophie in league, they were competitive matches, but they weren’t too close,” Lee said. “So, I wanted to challenge myself today and not underestimate her and I really wanted to stay hungry.”
On Thursday, Lee broke serve and took a 1-0 lead in what was a see-saw affair in which the San Marino freshman went up, 4-3, on a wonderful cross-court winner.
After that, however, Lee didn’t need to hit many winners. Instead, the Titans’ top player remained poised and forced McKenzie into several unforced errors and errors while on attack.
After the 6-3 victory in the first set, Lee rolled to a 6-0 win in the second set that sealed the match and left McKenzie frustrated.
“There are so many things that I felt I should have done much better,” McKenzie said. “I know I could go out onto that court and play much better and I didn’t. It’s hard to accept that.”
Despite the loss, McKenzie still earned a trip to the CIF Southern Section Individual Tennis Tournament, which will take place Nov. 21. The site and start times have yet to be determined.
Overall, La Cañada Coach Will Moravec was thrilled to have two singles players in the semifinals.
“It’s nice to have our top two players being young,” said Moravec, who didn’t have a doubles team advance past Wednesday’s first round. “We have some young players coming up who will still be here when Sophie and Anna are here, so the future is definitely bright.”
McKenzie punched her ticket to the finals by topping teammate Kevakian, 6-1, 6-0, in the earlier semifinal matchup.
Kevakian held serve and won the first game before surrendering the next 12.
The meeting marked the first between La Cañada teammates in the league’s semifinals since 2013, when Ally McKenzie topped Sawa Keymuelen, 6-0, 6-0, in the semis en route to winning the singles crown.
If Kevakian was upset, she certainly didn’t show it in her third-place match with Temple City’s Allison Tan, who was bested by Lee in the other semifinal, 6-1, 6-0.
Kevakian completed an impressive rally against Tan with a 3-6, 6-0, 10-4 victory to take third place in league and earn a first alternate spot to the CIF tournament.
“I’m really proud that I came back, especially after losing that first set,” Kevakian said. “I started to hit with more topspin after that first set because I was hitting really flat. That really helped and it’s fun and exciting to finish third.”
The CIF individual tournament pairings and alternates will be released Nov. 15. Before that, the CIF Southern Section team playoff brackets will be made public Monday.
The Spartans (5-7) finished third in the Rio Hondo League and will participate in Division II.
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports
