Girls’ Tennis Preview: La Cañada turns to depth for another postseason run

For better or worse, depth has been a storyline for the La Cañada High girls’ teams the past several seasons.

At times, it’s been a strength and at other instances an obstacle.

“It’s always good to have depth and some teams are different than others,” Spartans Coach Will Moravec said. “In some cases, we’ve returned most of our players and there have been other times where we’ve brought in some new players. So, you just try to fit in and see what you have and what kind of lineup combinations might be possible.”

La Cañada, which fell to Northwood, 14-4, in a CIF Southern Section Division I first-round road match last season, will return several key players.

Leading the way will be sophomore Sophie McKenzie, who will be the Spartans’ No. 1 singles player. McKenzie teamed with older sister, Cassie, to win the league’s doubles championship before advancing to the semifinals in the CIF Individual Tournament. The McKenzies were named the All-Area Girls’ Tennis Doubles Team of the Year. It was the second year in a row that the McKenzies reached the semifinals and were the All-Area Girls’ Tennis Doubles Team of the Year, but in 2014, it was Cassie and Ali. Now, the Spartans are left with one McKenzie, as some combination of the siblings has racked up the majority of set wins over the past few seasons in key matches.

“Sophie had a great run playing alongside Cassie,” Moravec said. “She’s got an outstanding work ethic and she’s now at that stage of trying to make a name for herself. She knows it’s going to be tough, but she also knows what’s expected.”

La Cañada’s singles lineup is up in the air besides McKenzie, with options such as senior Natalie Petrosian, junior Nicole Son, sophomore Lauren O’Brien and freshman Annabelle Kevakian.

In doubles, the Spartans will bring back sophomores Solenn Matuska and Ashley Chun. Seniors Grace Rickert and Elizabeth Lee and junior Sarah Settles could also settle into the double bracket.

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy won’t get a shot at defending its Sunshine League championship because it will return to the competitive Mission League for the first time since 2013. Flintridge Sacred Heart split the league title with Immaculate Heart last season after winning it outright in 2014.

The Tologs completed their successful run in the Sunshine League, warranting a move back to the Mission League despite losing most of their players to graduation after reaching the Division IV playoffs under veteran coach Ron Zambrano.

“We’re sorry to be leaving the Sunshine League after having quite a bit of success,” said Zambrano, who is the reigning two-time All-Area Girls’ Tennis Coach of the Year. “We’ll be coming back to the Mission League and be facing some top teams like Harvard-Westlake, Marlborough and [Sherman Oaks] Notre Dame and we don’t have many returners.

“We’ll know who we are going up against and we’ll have some good tests, so we just having to keep working hard.”

Flintridge Sacred Heart will bring back singles players Kate Hodges and Ellen Lee. The Tologs will also return senior Margaux Blain and sophomore Deana Als in doubles. Blaine received All-Area honors after teaming with Holly MacVaugh to finish 36-5 and 27-1 in the Sunshine League and reach the semifinals in the league tournament last season.

Flintridge Prep will begin its second season under coach Morisa Yang after just missing out on qualifying for the Division III playoffs. Flintridge Prep and rival Pasadena Poly finished tied for third in the Prep League, leading to the teams meeting in a play-in match. Pasadena Poly prevailed, 11-7.

Yang, who guided the school’s boys’ team to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2012, said the Rebels are in position to learn from last season’s fate.

“We just missed and we’ll look to learn from that experience,” Yang said. “We’ll have a lot of players back and they’re excited to get going.

“I feel like we have a lot of very good players and they’ll continue to work hard. We want that to lead to a better outcome.”

Flintridge Prep will return junior Crystal Juan, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Singles Player of the Year. Juan finished 49-5, 21-5 last season.

“We’re looking to get her to the CIF Individual Tournament,” Yang said. “She’s been participating in a lot of tournaments since the end of last season and she’s been training hard.”