Girls’ tennis players end season satisfied at CIF Individuals tournament
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CLAREMONT — Some of the architects of a special season for Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis gathered in uniform one last time Wednesday at Biszantz Family Tennis Center.
Two singles players and two doubles teams had all been knocked out in either the round of 16 or quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Individuals Tournament. Looking at the larger picture, it was impressive that the Sea Kings had six players among the final 48 still in contention across the section.
Coach Jamie Gresh told the players that their season was rare and extremely special.
“I wish I could play another year,” senior Emilie Lew told him, and he smiled.
“We’ll have you another year,” Gresh joked.
There will be no extended eligibility for the senior group, but their legacy is deep after helping CdM earn the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title, the SoCal Regional crown and advance to the CIF State championship match.
Senior twins Polina and Sasha Briggs, Lew and doubles player Isabel Roytman were all four-year varsity players.
“The season has been really, really fun,” Polina Briggs said. “Just having everyone here, I love hanging out with them. I think we’re just a really good team.”
CdM sophomore Julia Cross and freshman partner Sienna Lynn advanced the furthest at CIF Individuals, to the quarterfinals. They beat a team from Harvard-Westlake 6-4, 6-2 in the round of 16 before succumbing to No. 2-seeded Ava Min and Cassie Blakely of Palos Verdes, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.
Cross and Lynn, the Sunset League doubles champions, play United States Tennis Assn. tournaments together often and are good friends. Lynn also was part of a strong freshman class at CdM, along with players like her usual doubles partner Addie DiNicola, Brynn Patterson and Olivia Lew. Those players will likely be future leaders.
“I thought it was really nice,” Lynn said. “I play outside of high school a lot with them, and we’re all really good friends. It was nice that we all got to play with each other and cheer each other on, watch each other. I definitely think that we all got a lot better this season, especially at doubles. It’ll be fun to practice more with them outside of high school.”
Both of CdM’s singles entrants lost in the round of 16. Lew, the Sunset League singles champion, fell to Valerie Machikawa of Whitney, 2-6, 6-4 and 11-9 in a match tiebreaker. Polina Briggs beat Michelle Qi of Westlake 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32 before losing to No. 4-seeded Aashi Patel of Cerritos 7-5, 6-4 in the round of 16.
Briggs grinded against Patel, as the first set was 5-5 and she battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set. Serving to stay in the match, luck was a bit unkind to Briggs. Patel had a pair of shots hit the net cord and fall over during that final game.
“I feel like it hasn’t really kicked in yet,” Briggs said of her high school tennis career ending. “I feel like we’re just going to have another match next week. Next week, I’ll probably be more sad when I realize that the season is officially over.”
CdM’s other doubles team, Sasha Briggs and Roytman, lost 7-5, 6-1 to Sahana Chakravarthy and Payton Nguyen of Portola in the round of 16.
Rebecca MacCallum represented for Laguna Beach High at CIF Individuals. MacCallum, a junior who won the Pacific Hills League singles title, beat Adelaide Games of Mater Dei 6-2, 6-1 in the round of 32 before succumbing to No. 2-seeded Sophia Dimitrascu of Yorba Linda, 7-5, 6-3, in the round of 16.
MacCallum battled back from 5-2 to 5-5 in the opening set against the left-hander Dimitrascu. At that point, Dimitrascu called for a line judge. The final two games of the set were close, but the No. 2 seed won them both.
“I’m always happy as long as I compete well,” MacCallum said. “I think that’s very important, and I’m proud of that. I’m proud that I was able to come from being down so far as well, even though I didn’t end up winning the set. Her calling for a line judge, it didn’t really throw me off. It did halt my momentum a little bit, of course, because I had to wait, but we still had two pretty good and close games afterward.”
It was just the second loss of the season for MacCallum, the third of four tennis siblings to compete for the Breakers. Older sisters Sarah and Jessica both now compete at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, while younger brother Jacob is a freshman who will compete for the Laguna boys in the spring.
Rebecca MacCallum said she enjoys the atmosphere that high school tennis provides.
“I think it’s very nice to be able to play to your fullest potential, just because you don’t have so many stressors on you,” she said. “Even this match, I felt like I was really able to go for my serve and hit my shots, because I’m not worried about ratings and stuff. I think [high school tennis] is really fun and it brings back a love for tennis for a lot of people.”
