Playoff Profiles : Wiegler Sets Her Course

Shera Wiegler’s tennis career began innocently enough.

While on a weekend vacation in Palm Springs with her family in the summer of 1987, Wiegler, then 9, followed her father, Barry, onto the courts at Sunrise Racquet Club.

Although it was the first time Wiegler had hit, Ion Casapu, the tennis pro at Sunrise, noticed her potential and suggested she take up the sport.

“It’s kind of a funny story, actually,” Wiegler said. “I just wanted to go and play with my dad.”

The Calabasas High senior is ranked 31st by the Southern California Tennis Assn. among 18-and-under girls--the highest rating of any high school player in the region.

As the No. 1 singles player for the Coyotes, she had a 50-3 set record. She already has a scholarship offer to play tennis for Iowa.

“Everybody has it in the back of their mind to play pro, but that’s not what I’m gearing for right now,” she said. “The most important thing now is to get my education. But maybe my game will take off in college and then I’ll go pro.”

Wiegler and Calabasas teammate Kirsten Gross, who is ranked 32nd by the SCTA, make a formidable doubles team that is playing in the Southern Section individual playoffs beginning Thursday at Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach. The two teamed for the same tournament as freshmen and advanced to the semifinals.

The Southern Section will not release seedings for the tournament until Thursday morning, but Wiegler and Gross figure to be near the top.

“We feel like we have a good chance to win,” Wiegler said. “We were really hoping for a [Southern Section team] title but this would be good too.”

Calabasas lost to Villa Park by one game in the Division II semifinals, but Wiegler has long since shaken off that loss.

“Hopefully, we’ll win [the Southern Section tournament], but if we don’t it’s not a tragedy,” she said. “I have made so many friends in tennis. I can go to almost any state in the country and call a friend. It’s such a great thing.”