Fox Enjoys Playing to a Crowd

Grant High finished the girls’ tennis season with a 5-2 loss to Cleveland on Tuesday in a City Championship first-round playoff.

But for Shayna Fox, the Lancers’ No. 1 singles player, the show must go on.

Fox, a sophomore who led Grant to the City Division championship as a freshman last year, is a natural when it comes to performing, whether she’s on the court, in front of a camera or in a recording studio. She began acting professionally at 8 and has worked in theater, commercials and films.

A member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Fox is featured in the Nickelodeon children’s cartoon series “Rocket Power,” in which she does voice-over for a lead character named Reggie. She also has done voice-over work for the lead character in another Nickelodeon series, “Kate and The Moondogs.”

Fox worked as the voice of one of the gorillas in the film “Congo,” and as the voice of young Nell, Jodie Foster’s character in the film of the same name.

“I love it,” Fox said. “I feel incredibly alive when I’m acting, and it’s fun because you can learn a lot by playing all these different characters.”

Fox is part of a conservative Jewish family that is heavily involved in outreach programs. Fox’s father, Herschel, is the cantor for Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, one of the largest conservative synagogues in Southern California. Her mother, Judy, is the cantor for Brentwood-based Synagogue for the Performing Arts.

Fox herself headed a service for Valley Outreach Synagogue last weekend in Las Vegas, where she led children’s choirs from around the nation in singing hymns and prayers in an event to benefit the Children’s Defense Fund. Concert performances sung in English, Hebrew and Yiddish at fund-raising events are regular family fare for the Foxes.

“I was sort of just born into it,” Fox said. “My whole family performs, and it’s something that just sort of came naturally to me.”

So did tennis for Fox, who took up the sport when she was 12. Now, she takes private lessons twice a week and is giving serious thought to tennis as a career. But it probably won’t happen because of her other career.

“I think she’d have a better chance to win an Academy Award than to end up at Wimbledon,” said Roger Werksman, a former UCLA All-American and professional player who coaches Fox.

“With everything else she’s got going, it just didn’t make sense for her to sacrifice everything to practice tennis five or six hours a day. That’s the reality, and she has made her peace with that.”

To a point, that is.

“Every time I think of it, I want to cry because I know--I know--if I put the time and my heart into it, I could be a really good player,” said Fox, who was close to a black belt in karate when she gave it up to concentrate on tennis.

“I want to be a movie star. And when I started playing tennis, it was really hard because I really do want to be a great tennis player, too.

“But what would I give up? They’re both so much a part of me, and they make up who I am. I love everything I do.”

Tennis is limited to practice sessions and competing for Grant and in junior open events. With Grant’s season over, Fox is focused on the City Section individual tournament that begins Nov. 30 at the Warner Center Tennis Club in Woodland Hills.

“I do tennis for myself because it’s fun,” she says. “And hopefully, I’ll be able to at least play in college.”

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Here’s a nod to some tennis players who have qualified for the Southern Section individual tournament that begins Nov. 20.

Brooke Borisoff, No. 1 singles player at Agoura, won her third consecutive Marmonte League singles title. The junior lost only one game in the league tournament. She is rated No. 2 in Southern California in the girls’ 16 division and ranks as the area’s best hope for a third consecutive Southern Section individual champion to follow in the footsteps of Marissa Irvin of Harvard-Westlake in 1997 and Tiffany Brymer of Rio Mesa in 1998.

The prediction here is Borisoff will make the final and face Luana Magnani of San Marino, the No. 1 player in 16s in Southern California.

Yasmin Fisher, a Buena senior, finished second in the Marmonte League for the third consecutive season when she lost to Kelly Schmandt of San Marcos on Wednesday.

Fisher, bothered by a sore right elbow much of the season, still advanced to the Southern Section tournament. In the tournament last season, she lost to Brymer in the quarterfinals.

Dragana Ognenovska of Burroughs followed her Foothill League runner-up finish of last year with a title this time, edging sophomore Olga Yepremian of Burbank, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), in the final.

Harvard-Westlake, No. 2-ranked team in the Southern Section Division III, had No. 1 Stephanie Berg defeat teammate Jessica Leck for the Mission League singles title and Chelsea Heller and Chelsea Dillon finish second to Kinsley Carnahan and Jessica Testwuide of Chaminade in doubles.

In a surprise, Crescenta Valley dominated doubles play in the Pacific League, with Jennifer Lee and Kara MacDonald defeating teammates Ashley Goodwin and Shira Seigle for the championship. The Falcons had Haas Wu and Melissa Snee defeat Christina Scolinos and Sudarsha Jayasinge of Arcadia for third.

In another surprise, Calabasas’ No. 2 doubles team of Brittany Bierman and Vanessa Everly handed teammates Kathy Habuki and Andrea Leewong their first loss of the season in the Frontier League doubles championship.

Everly’s sister, Erin, claimed the league singles title over another Calabasas player, Jackie Yano, with a 6-2, 6-1 win.

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The Top 10

Rankings of region tennis teams

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RK School (League) Rec. 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 16-2 2 Calabasas (Frontier) 17-3 3 Westlake (Marmonte) 15-4 4 Burroughs (Foothill) 13-2 5 Granada Hills (West Valley) 13-0 6 Burbank (Foothill) 13-2-1 7 Buena (Channel) 15-5 8 Simi Valley (Marmonte) 15-6 9 La Reina (Tri-Valley) 12-4 10 San Fernando (Valley Mission) 14-0

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