A One-Sided Win for Granada Hills

It appears as though the Granada Hills High girls’ tennis team has relieved itself of double vision.

For most of the season, the team has relied on its undefeated doubles teams for key points in key matches.

But a Highlander singles sweep Thursday cleared the way for Granada Hills in its 5-2 victory over Kennedy in a Northwest Valley Conference match at Kennedy High.

An ankle injury to No. 2 singles player Nicole Frydman forced Highlander Coach Ron Wood to rearrange his lineup and break up some of his doubles teams.

The result wasn’t pretty. The No. 1 team of Karyl-Lyn Sanderson and Julie Kang lost, 8-7 (8-6 in the tiebreaker), and the No. 2 team of Rebecca Tan and Stacy Takayama lost another close set, 8-6.

But Anne Wu, usually the No. 2 doubles partner of Tan, was promoted to No. 4 singles and rose to the occasion.

Wu took less than 25 minutes to dispose of Virginia Del Casal, 8-1, giving the Highlanders (10-0, 7-0 in conference) the unexpected sweep in singles.

“I just wanted to get through it as quick as possible,” Wu said. “I watched her warm up and saw that she hit cross court a lot, so I was just waiting for her shots.”

Another key singles point came at No. 2, where Reina Kobayashi defeated Sabrina Warda, 8-6, avenging a loss to Warda in the Highlanders’ 5-2 victory earlier this season.

“I really, really wanted to beat her,” Kobayashi said. “All day I was so nervous.”

Michelle Heiser outlasted Claudia Menjivar at No. 1 singles, 8-4, in a set that included five games that went to deuce.

Menjivar pulled the set even at 3-3 and it was 5-4 before Heiser won the final three games.

Karen Fung remained undefeated at No. 3 singles for the Highlanders with an 8-1 victory over Kathy Shim.

The Golden Cougars (6-5, 4-3) had entered the season with high hopes after finishing second to Granada Hills in the conference last season, but two players expected to return did not come out this season.

To make matters worse, Jamie Horowitz, the Golden Cougars’ No. 1 singles player, quit the team last week for personal reasons. Kennedy is now struggling to make the City Section playoffs.