Long, Hard Summer Paying Dividends for Sailors’ Adams

Top-ranked Newport Harbor had its momentum temporarily derailed this week by defending Southern Section champion Palos Verdes Peninsula. But the Sailors’ most improved player, Audra Adams, kept right on rolling.

Adams won all of her singles sets in the Sailors’ 11-7 loss to Peninsula Tuesday and took three from fourth-ranked Capistrano Valley Wednesday.

Almost exclusively a doubles player last year, Adams improved to 17-1 in singles--her only loss coming to Sunny Hills sophomore Joanna Kao, 7-6. Adams and Kristen Case were one of the county’s top doubles teams last year, taking the Sea View League title and reaching the section individual final before being routed by Woodbridge’s Adriana Hockicko and Danielle Hustedt.

But Adams wanted a bigger challenge this year, so she spent the summer touring the United States, honing her singles game.

“I think I slept in my own bed for about a week,” she said.

Adams hit about every part of the country and played on about every surface. She was in Memphis for the Unites States Tennis Assn. Clay Courts; West Windsor, N.J., for the International Tennis Federation Hardcourts; Philadelphia for the ITF Grass Courts; San Jose for the USTA Hardcourts and Fresno for the USTA Interscholastic championships.

And when Adams wasn’t working on her singles game, she was fine-tuning her doubles by playing mother/daughter doubles with her mother, Dorsey, who played at Long Beach State. They won the national indoors title this summer, which gave them the No. 1 national ranking among mother/daugther teams.

So there’s really no mystery why Adams has made more strides than maybe any player in the county over the last six months.

“I made it my goal to play singles this year,” said Adams, who is ranked 25th in Southern California and 69th nationally. “I’ve done everything I can to make myself better.”

The most striking difference in Adams’ play is her aggressiveness. Once a tentative baseline player, Adams is more forceful and much more tenacious these days.

“Audra’s elevated her game dramatically,” Newport Harbor Coach Fletcher Olson said. “She’s more dedicated and focused and she’s playing more offensively, moving the ball around more.”

Adams is moving around more, too. Her work in the gym this summer with a physical trainer is allowing her to reach more balls.

“If I’m down, I know I can come back now,” Adams said. “I think I’m more patient.”

And maybe more well-rounded. Adams is beginning to utilize her doubles skills more. She will never make a living at the net because of her size--5-feet-4. But she is beginning to close off the court better and put balls away earlier. She did that especially well Tuesday in her 6-3 victory over Peninsula’s top player, Shilpa Joshi.

“I don’t let my height bother me,” said Adams, who stopped playing softball her freshman year to concentrate on tennis. “I believe good things come in small packages.”

A number of college tennis coaches believe the same thing. Adams has already taken recruiting trips to Purdue and Texas Christian and she will visit Mississippi and Texas A&M; in the next two weeks.

NEW PLAN NEEDED

After Newport Harbor’s loss to Peninsula, in which the Sailors lost all nine doubles sets, Olson began thinking about ways her team could beat the Panthers in a playoff rematch.

“We’ll definitely have to make some changes in our doubles,” Olson said. “And I think we’ve got to fight a little harder against the better teams.”

NO ONE UNSCATHED

Parity has struck high school girls’ tennis. The season is barely three weeks old and already there are no undefeated teams left in the county top 10. Newport Harbor was the last undefeated team, but Peninsula (5-0) took care of that.