CdM girls’ tennis doubles up on dominance

Tennis is largely an individual sport.

Junior players spend countless weekend hours at USTA tournaments all alone on the court, in an effort to build up their ranking. The top singles players in the world, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, have been mainstre‎am celebrities for years. The top doubles players or teams? Less so.

In high school tennis, though, doubles count equally as much as singles. In fact, six of the nine starters on a given team play doubles.

Don’t take doubles players for granted. Corona del Mar coach Jamie Gresh certainly doesn’t.

CdM girls’ tennis has always been known for strong doubles teams, and that’s especially true this year. The Sea Kings have had standout doubles play all season, and that’s a big reason why they’re 12-0, 4-0 in the Pacific Coast League and ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division 1.

The primary doubles lineup is made up of seniors Brooke Kenerson, Emily Freyman and Paulina Loredo, as well as juniors Bella McKinney, Shaya Northrup and Roxy MacKenzie, plus freshman Lauren Friedman. That’s seven players for six spots, but MacKenzie also plays singles on a regular basis.

On a team with this much talent, the lineup has been fluid. Players will find out the day of the match who their partner will be for that particular match.

“We haven’t had consistent partners the whole time, or at least I haven’t, but I think we’ve all been pretty able to adapt to any team we’re playing,” Freyman said. “We’re able to adapt to our teammates’ strengths and weaknesses, and I think that’s why we’ve been so successful this year.”

CdM, which could move to No. 1 in the Division 1 rankings next week due to top-ranked Campbell Hall’s loss to Palos Verdes Peninsula on Monday, has a strong overall team. Loredo is a transfer from Texas, and transfers Annika Bassey and Kristina Evloeva have joined the singles lineup to form a strong trio with senior Danielle Willson, last year’s Newport-Mesa Player of the Year.

In practice, the girls typically play sets instead of just doing drills. The competition level is high, and that transfers to the matches. McKinney, a three-year doubles starter, is undefeated so far this year, and she’s done it with five different partners.

“We all are friends off the court, but on the court we want to battle against each other and make each other better,” she said. “I think it’s really interesting, because the culture has really changed. Jamie pushes us really hard to have the match vision in practice, have the attitude that you’re in a real match. It helps us for the match the following day or the day after. Sometimes I enjoy coming out to practice rather than a match, because I feel like I get a lot more out of it.”

Yes, the inter-team competition is sometimes more compelling than the Sea Kings’ opponents. That’s a reality in a league where CdM has won its last three matches 18-0 each time. The closest match of the whole season so far was still relatively comfortable, a 12-6 win over Peninsula on Sept. 19.

But the fact that there are so many interchangeable parts bodes well for the Sea Kings. Gresh has a lot of lineup options, to be sure. Next week will bring tougher matches, home dates against Dana Hills (ranked No. 8 in Division 1) on Wednesday and league rival University (No. 5) on Thursday.

The doubles players will be ready for those matches. And they will look forward to competing with their teammates, whoever they may be. Kenerson, who played at No. 1 doubles last year with graduate Camellia Edalat, has said that it was no problem that she sometimes now plays with McKinney on the No. 3 line.

“A lot of other teams have the same doubles lineup throughout the entire year, and I don’t think we’ve played the same lineup once this season,” said Kenerson, whose freshman sister Reece is also on the team. “It just shows our team spirit, and that we’re all OK to play together and actually happy to. It says something about the team that everyone’s willing to do it, no one’s going to complain. Everyone’s just happy to be out there.”

Happy to be out there, and focused. Gresh said on Tuesday that he wasn’t aware that Campbell Hall had lost the day before. The Sea Kings are really just focused on getting themselves better for what they hope is a deep run in the Division 1 playoffs.

CdM has lost in the Division 1 semifinals for four straight years. The one that hurt the most was last year’s setback on games to Harvard-Westlake.

“Our priority is us,” Brooke Kenerson said.

The priority for Gresh is making sure his players continue to improve. And it appears to be so far, so good on that front.

“I think the team bond from last year has carried over to this year,” Gresh said. “Yes, there’s new pieces of the puzzle with the transfers and the freshmen, but I feel like we’re doing a good job as a cohesive unit. I really like the direction this team’s headed. Practices have been very good, and I think they’re doing a better job of competing against each other to prepare themselves, when we do have the tougher matches.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo