HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS’ TENNIS : SECTION INDIVIDUAL FINALS : Willette Puts Serra in Winner’s Circle

A little spitfire named Nikki Willette ended a drought of sorts Friday by winning the San Diego Section individual tennis championship.

It was the first time a Serra player, girl or boy, has ever appeared in a team or individual tennis final and the first time since the girls were included in playoffs (1974) that an Eastern League player has won the event.

Before the match, Willette said, “Everyone was stopping me in the halls and saying, ‘Good luck.’ ”

Third-seeded Willette, a sophomore, made short work of top-seeded Brooke Galardi of Bishop’s, needing only one hour 15 minutes for the 6-2, 6-4 victory at the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club.

In the all-Torrey Pines doubles final, second-seeded Kim Sherrod and Kelly Kestler rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat No. 1 Krista Kuechler and Erin Bohrnstedt, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Willette was a bit surprised to even make the finals here. She had heard how tough an opponent second-seeded Sayaka Kimura of Poway was.

“I thought I’d make semifinals, but I didn’t think finals,” she said. “I was worried about Sayaka.”

Her fears were unfounded. Bishop’s Branaca Elsberry upset Kimura in the quarterfinals, and Willette defeated Elsberry in straight sets Thursday to reach the final. Willette didn’t lose a set and lost the fewest number of games (11), eight fewer than Galardi, in four rounds.

Willette used her quickness and toned down her natural aggressiveness somewhat to beat Galardi, who is in her practice group at Canyon Hills in Escondido. The last time they met, two years ago in a tournament in Ojai, Galardi won.

“My coach told me to key in and hit deep, because she wouldn’t make the errors,” Willette said.

Said Galardi: “I wasn’t being patient. But she played well. It was a nice match.”

The doubles final was a replay of the Palomar League finals, when junior Kuechler and freshman Bohrnstedt, playing together for the first time, defeated Sherrod, a senior, and Kestler, a sophomore, in three sets.

Without any pressure to repeat, Sherrod and Kestler were relaxed.

“We had nothing to lose,” Sherrod said. “The pressure was on them.”

Kestler said it was one of their best matches. “We set up our points more and were more aggressive,” she said.

For Torrey Pines coach Ann Meigs, it was the second time in less than six months that she had to sit quietly on the sidelines and coach. The boys’ section doubles final in spring was also an all-Torrey Pines affair.