1994 Prep Preview: Girls’ Tennis : Crying Game a Turning Point for Laguna Beach’s Bray

Michelle Bray had played hundreds of tennis matches in her life, so she was used to a temperamental opponent shedding a tear occasionally during a match.

Bray, a junior at Laguna Beach High, didn’t think much of it when her opponent, Holly Parkinson of Miami, began crying during the first set of their match this summer at the girls’ 16s national hardcourts in San Diego.

“I figured it was because she was losing,” Bray said.

But then after losing the first set to Bray, Parkinson came back to take the next set. Parkinson also was winning the third set and was on the verge of putting Bray away, but she was still crying.

Now Bray was spooked.

“It was weird because this girl was crying and she was beating me,” Bray said. “It caught me off guard. I tried to put pressure on her, but it was hard because she was crying on almost every point. I started to feel sorry for her.”

Bray wound up losing to Parkinson in three sets and eventually found out that Parkinson had been grieving over the recent death of her grandmother. Afterward, Bray realized the strangest thing about the match was that she was in it at all.

Parkinson was the nation’s fifth-ranked player in the girls’ 16s division, and Bray was not even ranked in the top 100. Bray had never qualified for a national junior tournament until this year when she played the clay courts and hardcourts.

“Once I started talking to people, they started saying, ‘Gosh, you should be happy how well you did,” ’ Bray said. “But with the way the match ended after I had the lead, I was disappointed. It was definitely a learning experience.”

It was an experience that Bray’s coach, Sam Olson, never figured Bray would have at all.

“A couple years ago, she wouldn’t have been able to stay on the same court with a girl like that,” said Olson, who teaches at the Balboa Bay Racquet Club.

A couple years ago, Olson didn’t even see Bray as a tennis player. Now, she’s one of the top high school players in Orange County for the upcoming season.

“When I first met her, I didn’t think she’d be that hard of a worker,” Olson said. “She not a real big girl. She doesn’t look like your typical tennis player.”

But Olson said Bray has proved him wrong.

“Sometimes she’s out here working on her own until 8:30 at night,” Olson said. “I’ve told her it’s all right to go out with your friends once in a while.”

Bob Walton, Bray’s high school coach, also respects Bray for her work ethic.

“She takes her No. 1 position on this team seriously,” Walton said. “One day in practice we were playing a game called ‘around the world.’ Some of the kids were playing around and not taking it seriously. But Michelle decided that since she was the No. 1 player on the team, she wasn’t going to lose to anyone. She wound up beating everyone and winning the game.”

Walton expects Bray will win a lot of games this season for the Artists, the two-time defending Southern Section Division II champion.

“She’s hitting the ball a lot harder now and she’s coming to the net more,” Walton said. “You have to beat her. She’s not going to beat herself.”

As she continues to mature, Olson said Bray will start beating opponents that used to beat her.

Bray said she owes a lot of her new-found confidence to Olson, who has worked with Bray for nearly two years.

“I owe my game to him,” she said. “He knows everything about the game. You could hit one shot and off of that he knows exactly what to tell you. I can talk to him about anything and I totally respect the advice he gives me.”

Olson said Bray will start getting more respect as she continues to improve her power game.

“Her body size and strength still hurt her against the good players because she’d not able to get the power behind the ball like the bigger girls do,” Olson said. “But on the other hand, she’s quicker than most girls she plays and she’s got great footwork. Being left-handed doesn’t hurt either. Not many juniors are used to the ball coming from that angle.”

And probably not many high school opponents will be used to Bray’s drastically improved game.

“I definitely have more confidence now,” Bray said. “It’s just a mind game really. I’ve improved a lot in physical aspect but mentally too.”

Girls’ Tennis

Top players: Michelle Bray, Laguna Beach, Jr.; Sarah Denson, Irvine, So.; Tami Demaree, Edison, Jr.; Faye DeVera, Villa Park, So.; Julianne Eastman, Calvary Chapel, So.; Natalie Exon, Woodbridge, So.; Kelly Foster, Edison, Jr.; Brandi Freudenberg, El Modena, Sr.; Amanda Hastings-Phillips, Laguna Beach, Jr.; Sarah Hawkins, Newport Harbor, Sr.; Vanessa Godbey, So.; Sarah Jarrett, Mater Dei, Sr.; Michele Johnson, Dana Hills, Jr.; Tracey Keyser, Santa Margarita, Jr.; Eleanor Luzano, Rosary, So.; Amy Medlin, El Modena, Jr.; Lindsay Olson, Newport Harbor, Sr.; Laura Ruben, Mater Dei, Sr.; Dana Rudolph, Sunny Hills, Sr.; Kim Westerman, Canyon, Jr.; Shannon Wilkins, Canyon, So.

League favorites: Century: El Modena; Empire: El Dorado; Freeway: Sunny Hills; Garden Grove: La Quinta; Golden West: Rosary; Olympic League: Brethren Christian; Orange: Savanna; Pacific Coast League: Laguna Beach; Sea View: Newport Harbor; South Coast League: Mater Dei; Sunset: Edison.

1993 final poll: 1. Laguna Beach; 2. Newport Harbor; 3. Dana Hills; 4. Woodbridge; 5. Corona del Mar; 6. Edison; 7. El Modena; 8. Mater Dei; 9. Villa Park; 10. Valencia.

1994 preseason poll: 1. Laguna Beach; 2. Newport Harbor; 3. El Modena; 4. Mater Dei; 5. Villa Park; 6. Edison; 7. Corona del Mar; 8. Santa Margarita; 9. Dana Hills; 10. Canyon.

Key dates: Southern Section individual prelims, Nov. 19; Southern Section team finals, Nov. 22; Southern Section individual finals, Dec. 2.

Notes: Freudenberg, The Times Orange County player of the year the past two seasons, completed a busy summer by playing in the International Junior Hardcourt Championships in Baltimore. . . . Jenny Gonzalez, beaten by Freudenberg in the Southern Section quarterfinals last year, has moved from Valencia to Miami to be with her aunt and uncle. Gonzalez, who would have been a senior, led Valencia to the Division IV finals last year. “I cried the day she left,” Valencia Coach Mike McCall said. “I’ll miss her, not just for her tennis, but getting to hang out with her was fun, too.”. . . Corona del Mar’s top player, Marcie Asch, graduated but the Sea Kings return Megan Wachtler, ranked 45th in Southern California in the girls’ 16 division, Alissa Scott and freshman Nina Vaughan, ranked sixth in the girls’ 14s. . . Canyon could have its best team in years with the addition of Wilkins, a transfer from University, and the return of Westerman and three key doubles players. . . Mission Viejo hasn’t won a South Coast League match in four years, but it might have the smartest and most musical team around. Coach Bill Smith said his team will have a grade-point average in excess of 4.0 and senior Stephanie Wan is a concert violinist.