Kabe Takes Balancing Act From Library to Tennis Court

Tennis has given UC Irvine freshman Nickole Kabe boundaries, some beyond the court.

Out.

Alvar Kabe, her father, called recently to ask about Kabe’s evening at a dance club.

“There have been sightings,” Kabe said. “Dad called and said that my sister’s friend had seen me at a Fullerton club. He asked, ‘Are you studying?’ ”

In.

What about those three hours at the library last week?

“Dad would be proud of me,” Kabe said. “Three hours at the library studying. It all balances out. Moderation, everything in moderation.”

That includes tennis.

Kabe isn’t the type of tennis player who, for better or worse, absorbs the game through her pores. She did not volley from one junior tournament to the next. In fact, she stopped playing in junior tournaments when she was 15.

Yet, she is an essential part of the Anteater tennis team, which begins play in the Big West Conference tournament Thursday in Ojai. Kabe is 11-8 as a singles player, tying her for the most victories on the team. She is 13-8 in doubles.

“It’s remarkable that she is doing so well with limited tournament experience,” Irvine Coach Mike Edles said. “Playing on the high school team is great, but it’s not a year-round thing. She pretty much played the high school season, which is three months in the fall. Outside of that, she maybe practiced with the players on her high school team.”

Of course, that was like playing in a junior tournament. Kabe attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High, which won the Southern Section Division I title the four years she was on the team.

Kabe was captain her senior year. The team lost only three matches. And that was a down season.

“Losing three matches early that year woke us up,” Kabe said. “We didn’t lose a match the year before. We didn’t lose again that season.

“Playing high school tennis was a big deal there. A really big deal. The competition and players were so incredible that I didn’t have to leave the area to get good.”

She stayed local for another reason.

“I didn’t like the tournaments,” Kabe said. “I didn’t like the atmosphere at all. I didn’t enjoy waking up at 5 a.m., driving an hour to play a match, then waiting around, then playing another match, then waiting around, then playing another match.

“I didn’t have that animal instinct. I tend not to be that competitive unless I’m playing for other people, like a team.”

Anything else?

“I didn’t like having to go to sleep really early the night before a tournament or eating only healthy food, things like that,” Kabe said.

Yet she didn’t want to give up tennis entirely.

There was family tradition, for starters. Her grandfather learned the game and taught it to her father, who played at UCLA. He then taught his daughter.

Kabe enjoys the game, especially when playing for a team. It’s the reason she prefers doubles over singles. There is also the structure it has brought to her life.

“It keeps me in shape and it keeps me out of trouble,” Kabe said. “I need something that has me in a certain place at a certain time. Otherwise, I’d be doing everything and probably never get anything completed. Tennis gives me a way of learning willpower.

“I need to do a lot of things to be happy. I need variety around me. I like museums and school functions and social activities.”

And dance clubs and the library.

“One night of fun, one night of studying,” Kabe said. “It all balances out.”

*

Irvine is the third-seeded team in the conference tennis tournament, behind Boise State and New Mexico State. It’s the highest the Anteaters have been seeded.

“After those two, it’s really even,” Edles said.

How even?

Said Edles: “UC Santa Barbara is seeded 11th and Pacific is sixth, yet Santa Barbara beat Pacific this season. We’re third and Pacific beat us and we barely beat Santa Barbara.”

Thursday, Irvine plays the winner of Santa Barbara vs. Pacific.

*

The men’s tennis team is seeded No. 4 in the tournament and faces fifth-seeded Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Friday. Irvine is 71st in the national rankings. The doubles’ team of Nick Varvais and David Chang lost twice last week, finishing the season with a 10-2 record.

*

Christie Engesser had the fourth-fastest 800-meter time in Irvine history, going 2 minutes 9.11 seconds Friday at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.

Shawn Frack had a time of 30:32.08 in the 10,000 meters at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays. It was the 10th fastest time in school history and the first time since 1992 that an Anteater male runner has made the school’s all-time top 10 in a running event.

Vivian Yip broke her school record in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet 6 1/4 inches at the Pomona meet.

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Coming Attractions

Key events for UC Irvine this week:

* Men’s tennis plays Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at 7:45 a.m. Friday in Ojai. The tournament continues through Sunday.

* Women’s tennis plays the winner of the UC Santa Barbara/Pacific match Thursday in the second round of the Big West tournament, which ends Saturday.

* Men’s and women’s track and field teams compete in the California/Nevada Championships Saturday and Sunday in Fresno.

* The golf team competes in the Big West Conference championships Monday and Tuesday at the Pacific Golf and Country Club in San Clemente.