Nelson Serves Notice She’s on the Rise

Lindsey Nelson hasn’t even played her first high school match, but she might already be one of the best players in Orange County. Nelson, who will be a freshman at Villa Park this fall, breezed through her second straight match Tuesday at the USTA Girls’ 16 Super Nationals at Barnes Tennis Center.

Nelson, one of only two county players to reach the round of 32, showed off a new weapon against Alexandra MacLennan of Beverly Hills--her serve. Nelson had half a dozen aces in her 6-3, 6-0 victory.

“I’m starting to rely on my serve for free points,” she said.

Nelson, who is 5 feet 9 and beginning to add muscle, is starting to play more aggressively. “I’m waiting for the short ball and putting the ball away,” she said.

That might be more difficult to accomplish today. Nelson gets her first real test of the tournament when she plays fifth-seeded Eva Wang of Haverford, Pa., who defeated Aimee Kim of University, 6-3, 6-1.

Nelson prepared for the tournament by playing doubles with her father and coach, Mike, at the Father-Daughter Grass Court Championships in Boston. They finished fifth.

Corona del Mar sophomore Anne Yelsey, who defeated Nelson at the Southern California Sectionals, was the only other county player to reach the round of 32. Yelsey defeated Sara Schiffman of Wynnwood, Pa., 6-3, 6-1.

Elizabeth Exon, a sophomore at Woodbridge, had her moments against fourth-seeded Theresa Logar of Rochester Hills, Mich.--just not enough of them. Exon fell behind, 4-0, in the first set and closed to 4-3. She also rallied from a 3-0 second-set deficit to tie it at 3-3. But Exon fell, 6-4, 6-4, and she learned that her backcourt game doesn’t work against the top players.

“She was bigger and stronger and she was just more consistent,” Exon said. “I set up a lot of points well. But instead of volleying it or putting it away, I’d stay back. I think I could have won a set or even the match if I had a better volley.”

Joanna Kao, who will be a junior at Sunny Hills, had some of the same problems as Exon. She ran into a bigger and stronger player in 17th-seeded Caitlin Collins of Lawrence, Kan.

Kao won her first two matches in straight sets, but she was blown away by Collins, 6-2, 6-1.

“She took my usual game away,” Kao said. “She had powerful ground strokes with lots of spin, and that is out of my hitting zone.

“It’s weird,” she added, “because sometimes in these big tournaments the top-seeded player isn’t as strong as the 17th seed.”

It looked that way at this tournament. Top-seeded Sara Anundsen of Littleton, Colo., struggled to defeat unseeded Colby Comstock of Rancho Palos Verdes, 0-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Other county players to fall out of the main draw were Kim Singer of Corona del Mar, who lost to Ashley Bentley of Montgomery, Ala., 6-2, 6-3, and Erin Ivey of Aliso Niguel, who fell to Joelle Schwenk of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-3, 6-1.

MADDOCKS OJAI-BOUND

Laguna Beach’s Ashley Maddocks was an interested observer of the Anundsen-Comstock match. On Monday, Anundsen knocked out Maddocks, 6-4, 6-3.

“I think if I were playing [Comstock],” Maddocks said, “it would have been a little prettier match.”

But Maddocks was quick to admit that her play of late has not been too pretty. Her ranking has fallen from 10 to 59 in the nation.

In an effort to regain her confidence and improve her game, Maddocks is attending the Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai this year.

“I just need to play more,” said Maddocks, who helped lead Laguna Beach to consecutive Southern Section titles in 1998 and 1999. “Down here I’m only playing an hour and a half a day. Up there, I can train and get in better shape and play four hours a day.”

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