No Longer Rivals, Sisters Spark Miraleste

Miraleste High tennis players Erica and Christa Hanson are not only sisters, they are also partners on the tennis court. Five years ago, the partnership wasn’t working nearly as well as today.

“We constantly fought,” Erica said.

They are no longer sibling rivals, however.

In fact, the combination of Erica and Christa has produced one of the best tennis duos in Southern California. They are the top players this year for Miraleste, an outstanding tennis program that has won two of the last three CIF team titles and was runner-up to Corona del Mar last year.

Miraleste can qualify for the 4-A Division finals again with a victory today at 2 p.m. over host Palos Verdes, with whom the Marauders have split two matches this season. The rivals tied for second in the final 4-A rankings.

Despite their recent successes, the Hansons haven’t always had it this easy.

Like most sisters, they’ve had their share of disagreements.

For instance, there was the time they were losing a match and Christa started singing.

Said Erica, who is 17 and can be described as a typical older sister, full of advice and maturity and who often finishes sentences for her younger sister: “This car went past and was playing a song real loud, and Christa started singing along between points. I started yelling at her. We ended up losing the set.” Erica was 12, Christa 11.

“Yeah, I remember it, but I don’t remember it that way. They used to get really mad at me, though,” said Christa, who was described by Erica as “cute, long blond hair, tall and skinny and an airhead.”

Mother Linda hasn’t forgotten the incident either.

“Erica started crying because she wanted to win so bad,” Linda said. “I left my daughters, one singing, one crying. That’s one of those times a mother doesn’t forget.

“They are friends but they’re sisters, so they fight.”

After just a few tournaments together, their parents decided blood was not thicker than forehands and that it was best to split up the sister team.

“I would not allow them to play doubles together after the Redlands tournament (when the singing incident happened),” Linda said.

However, three years later the two found each other back on the same side of the net. The move strengthened their singles as well as doubles careers.

Erica is the No. 1 singles player at Miraleste and Christa is No. 2. Together with No. 3 singles player Laura Bak-Boychuk, they form the nucleus of the team.

“Erica is more consistent. Christa has her ups and downs,” said Miraleste Coach Jim Hanson, no relation.

Today, Miraleste hopes to avenge an 11-7 loss to Palos Verdes on Oct. 25. Erica has lost both of her singles matches against Palos Verdes this year and Christa lost her match the last time they played.

“We’re really excited to play them,” Erica said. “We feel we can beat them this time. The last time was kind of disappointing. We didn’t expect to lose and things went the other way, and it kind of shocked us (that) we lost.”

“I know I could play better than I did,” Christa said.

Both have plenty of CIF experience. Erica reached the doubles final in her sophomore year and was a singles semifinalist last year.

Christa won her No. 3 doubles finals match in her freshman year but lost the No. 2 doubles in the finals last year.

The two sisters also will compete as a doubles team in the CIF individual competition when the championships are completed. And they also compete in 10 to 15 junior tournaments a year.

“They play super together now, but I still hold my breath,” said Linda with a laugh.