This Tiny Player Stands Tall at University High : Tennis: Sophomore Jeannette Fylpaa, who weighs 98 pounds, works hard to improve her game--and beat Keri Phebus of Corona del Mar.

A year ago, Jeannette Fylpaa of University High School began her prep tennis career spectacularly. She compiled a 45-3 record and advanced to the round of 16 in the Southern Section singles championships, a feat that surprised even her.

Only one other Orange County player, Corona del Mar’s Keri Phebus, made it that far.

And if it hadn’t been for Phebus, who also was a freshman, Fylpaa probably would have gotten more attention. As it was, Phebus hogged the headlines by winning the league title, then going on to win the Southern Section singles championship.

Fylpaa was the Sea View League singles runner-up, behind Phebus, and earned first-team all-county honors.

Fylpaa (a Norwegian name pronounced Fill-PA) was too thrilled by her own success to worry about Phebus, though. Her freshman season was more, much more, than she had expected.

Nevertheless, when her sophomore season started in September, Fylpaa went out and tried to work on her shortcomings.

After all, there is always room for improvement. And the question of how to beat Phebus lingered.

So University Coach Karen Speros “invested in outside experts” as she puts it. Speros, in her 12th season as University coach, had Fylpaa work with a sports psychologist on the psychology of winning.

She also asked a teaching pro to come by and offer instruction in the finer points of coming to the net. As a freshman, Fylpaa had played strictly from the baseline, a style that served her well. But in order to improve, she needed to learn the complete game.

“Sometimes I have a problem of not being aggressive,” Fylpaa said.

Then there was a question of conditioning. In order to improve, Fylpaa decided to run the 400 meters on the Trojans’ track and field team.

“It’s just conditioning for long matches,” she said. “Three-set matches can be very tiring.”

She also had another reason for running.

“I didn’t want my whole life to revolve around tennis,” she said.

The extra work has paid off. Fylpaa is 50-5 and one of the top players in Orange County this season. She wrinkles her nose at the mention of her record, though.

The results haven’t quite been what she was hoping for. She has lost to Phebus again and to her Corona del Mar teammate Courtney Strauss, to Anne Mall, a Dana Hills freshman, and twice to Dina Birch of Estancia. Birch, a senior, has become another big rival.

One continuing obstacle that Fylpaa has faced is her size, or lack of it.

She is just 5-feet-2 and weighs only 98 pounds. She looks as if a strong breeze could bowl her over, to say nothing of an opponent’s blistering serve.

But, as teammate Sandra Birshka, points out, “she’s so small you wouldn’t think all those strokes come out of her. Opponents don’t think she intimidates them, then after they lose they’re real sorry.”

Indeed, a strong backhand--her best stroke, Fylpaa says--good footwork from seven years of soccer and from running the 400, and a determined attitude have more than made up for her size.

She’s also left-handed, which tends to confuse some opponents.

“Oh, left-handers do the same things with the ball as right-handers, it just spins differently,” Fylpaa said with a smile. Still, it’s an advantage to be used to its fullest.

After the high school season ends--one week remains in the regular season--Fylpaa will begin working with a pro, taking lessons and working on a serve-and-volley game rather than camping out on the baseline.

It’s all in the name of improvement--and maybe a long-sought-after victory over Phebus--on the way to a college scholarship some day.