Marinaâs Mika Ikemori is CIF girlsâ tennis finalist
There are nearly 600 member schools in the CIF Southern Section.
Out of the thousands of girlsâ tennis players across the section, only two made it to Thursdayâs CIF Southern Section Individuals singles title match.
One of them was Marina High junior Mika Ikemori.
Ikemoriâs season to remember concluded with her as a finalist, as she ran into a red-hot freshman in the title match at Whittier Narrows Center.
In a showdown between the tournamentâs top two seeds, Sunny Hills freshman Daniela Borruel topped Ikemori 6-3, 7-5 for the Individuals singles title.
Even prior to the final match, Ikemori knew what it meant to be there.
âItâs super-cool,â she said. âI mean, CIF, thatâs the big one. Iâm really happy that I fought out all my matches, because every one of them was tough.â
Borruel, who will turn 15 later this month, was aggressive in the final against Ikemori. But after winning the first set, she fell behind 5-2.
Borruel rallied to win the last five games of the match, although Ikemori saved two match points before Borruel could serve it out at 6-5.
âI think I stopped moving my feet a little bit, and she definitely started playing better,â Ikemori said. âI think I could have kept the intensity up a little bit more.
âShe didnât make many mistakes. Sheâs really good at building herself back up, so she can recompose herself. But it was a good match, and congrats to Daniela.â
Borruel said staying aggressive and moving forward made her effective on her swinging volleys.
âI told myself to stay in the moment,â Borruel said. âIâve had these experiences before ... I think I had the composure to come back, the fighting spirit to come back. Thereâs always a chance.â
In the semifinals, Ikemori topped No. 3-seeded Nadia Kojonroj of Troy, 6-3, 6-2. She improved to 3-0 lifetime against Kojonroj, a left-handed player, the first two wins coming in junior tournaments.
âI knew it was going to be really hard,â Ikemori said. âEvery time I play Nadia, itâs tough. I wanted to do my best and stay in it point by point, not worry about what might happen.â
Ikemori broke Kojonrojâs serve at 3-2 in the first set and took the early advantage. But after Kojonroj held serve to open the second set, Ikemori got locked in a long battle on her own serve.
The game took nearly 15 minutes before Ikemori held serve. She then quickly broke Kojonrojâs serve in the next game and seized back momentum of the match.
âI think it was really important to hold,â Ikemori said. âI think that game set the tone for the rest of the match. When you have those games, you feel relief, like, âThank God I pulled that out.â But if you lose the game, youâre just really mad at yourself and you feel really deflated. It was really important that I won that game. I didnât want her to get the opportunity to go up 3-0 with her serving.â
Ikemori said overall she enjoyed playing in CIF Individuals. She became the second Marina girlsâ tennis player to advance to the finals, joining Carrie Crisell in 1985.
âItâs great being a finalist in CIF,â she said. âItâs an honor to represent Marina and come this far. Iâm proud of Daniela, but Iâm happy with it. Obviously a little disappointed, but Iâm still proud of myself.â
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