Trips Help Coyotes Avoid Fall : Girls’ tennis: Competition abroad has toughened players for top-ranked Calabasas.

The Calabasas High girls’ tennis team had a summer full of adventure.

Senior Natasha Pospich competed in the U. S. Olympic Festival. Senior Alison Paris and her sister Tracy, a sophomore, traveled to Europe and played on a national team that competed against players from the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Sophomore Stacey Jellen took a two-week break from school this fall to play in Yugoslavia.

Returning to high school tennis might seem dreary after a summer such as many of the Coyotes had. But after an agonizing, 10-8 loss to Dana Hills in the Southern Section 3-A Division finals, Calabasas has posted a 12-3 record and emerged as the favorite for the 3-A championship. The Coyotes, who finish the regular season today at home against powerful Miraleste, are ranked No. 1 in the division, having defeated second-ranked Beverly Hills and then-No. 3-ranked Agoura.

The strong showing is no surprise. Seven players returned from last season, including the top three singles players--Pospich, Jellen and Alison Paris. Calabasas was 16-1 and claimed a Frontier League title last year.

After their summer of high-caliber tennis, the Coyotes have lost to only Santa Barbara and San Marino, both ranked in the 4-A top 10, and Marlborough. Besides the impressive numbers, the team’s ability to remain focused has pleased second-year Coach Bill Bellatty. He is certain the team will sustain that motivation when the playoffs begin a week from today.

“Good players can get their heads together,” said Bellatty, who is also the boys’ basketball coach. “This team has a goal, and they know what it is and that it will take wins to get there.”

The Coyotes cannot repeat as league champions because the Frontier League has discontinued girls’ tennis, thus making the chase for the 3-A title more urgent.

Bellatty would prefer to compete in a league and secure one championship before playing for the division title.

“It’s nice to be in a league and to come in first,” Bellatty said. “Now the kids don’t have that chance. That is why I made the tough schedule.”

The strong regular-season competition can only help Pospich, the fifth-ranked player in the most recent Southern California Tennis Assn. girls’ age 16 group and the No. 16 player in the United States--according to the U.S. Tennis Assn--and Jellen, seventh in the nation in girls’ 14s.

“The schedule has more variety,” Jellen said. “I like it that we are not just going through the motions, playing the same teams twice in one year. I think when you face better competition it raises your play.”

The summer trips helped many players handle the burden of being every team’s target this season.

“It’s not as intense here as it was for me in Yugoslavia,” Jellen said.

Pospich added: “I’ve felt a little more pressure, and I think the team has felt a little more pressure, because everybody wants to beat us. But being number one has also given us confidence.”

Jellen accepts the No. 2 position graciously, even though on many teams she could play in the top spot. With two more years at Calabasas, she can learn from the veteran Pospich.

“We are like best friends,” Jellen said. “I play number two, she plays number one, and I’ve never wanted to challenge her.”

Alison Paris, No. 3 in singles, lacks national credentials like Pospich’s or Jellen’s but nevertheless is respected. She likely will play tennis at an Ivy League school.

Tracy Paris and Melissa Pifko form Calabasas’ top doubles team.

“Other teams stack their doubles teams against us,” Pospich said. “The Beverly Hills coach even admitted she put her strongest players in doubles to try and beat us, and we ended up beating them by one game. The singles players will have to try and motivate the doubles players, because without them we can’t win. But I think they have the talent to do it.”