Girlsâ Tennis: Thaxter battles to end
IRVINE â Corona del Mar High senior Lauren Thaxter is one of the strongest-willed people youâll ever meet.
If you havenât met Thaxter, just know that one moment Wednesday afternoon she was kneeled over in the corner of a tennis court at Beckman High, vomiting.
Minutes later, she was back on court, zapped of energy but doing everything she could to beat Northwood senior Chloe Pham in a Pacific Coast League tournament semifinal match.
Thaxter, who has suffered from atypical migraine headaches and âaurasâ (precursors to seizures) since she was a sophomore, never gives up. Once the match has started, she isnât coming off court until the final result has been determined.
âSince sheâs had this, Iâve told her that I wanted her to default at least 20 times,â CdM Coach Brian Ricker said. âSheâs said no every single time ... She wonât come out, period. You see, sheâs throwing up, sheâs wobbling, sheâs obviously not 100%. But itâs just not in her nature to come out of a match, which is good ... In her mind, itâs âWhat can I change? Itâs not over.â Thatâs just her nature. Sheâs definitely the best fighter Iâve ever had.â
Her resolve impressed those who watched her match with Pham. The final result did not go her way, as Pham won, 6-2, 6-3. The top-seeded Thaxter lost in the league semifinals for the third straight year, again falling one match short of reaching the CIF Individuals tournament.
So did seniors Kenzie Purcifull and Kimmia Naaseh, who fell to top-seeded Danielle Pham and Yuki Asami of University, 6-1, 6-2, in a doubles semifinal match. Purcifull and Naaseh then fell to Sarah Mae Garcia and Judy Kam, 8-5, in the third-place match.
For Thaxter, the final result was disappointing, but the way she got there was impressive.
âI just didnât want to give up,â Thaxter said after the match. âI just didnât have as much stamina as I needed to, because I was sick. If the game goes to deuce, usually my stamina pulls me through. But [Pham] is a great player. She just pulled through on the important points.
âIt was just a bad day,â Thaxter added. âUnlucky.â
Pham, who also beat Thaxter in the semifinals two years ago, won several long games early in the first set before winning it, 6-2. Thaxter had her episode down, 3-0, in the second set, taking a 10-minute medical timeout. She eventually fell behind 5-0.
But she battled back, using an effective slice forehand and her strong backhand down the line to win three straight games. Pham finally closed out the match, but not before the scare. Even despite the relatively lopsided score, the match lasted well over two hours.
Thaxter did not storm off the court, but instead went over to Universityâs Alyssa Rudin to calmly let her know that she would be defaulting the third-place match.
âAs a father, as a coach, itâs just impressive the way she handles herself,â University Coach John Kessler said of Thaxter. âNot many people would do what she did [today], no way.â
For Purcifull and Naaseh, it was a tough day against two good Uni teams. They still nearly came back from a 6-1 deficit in the third-place match, which was played as a pro set.
âI think that we played really well,â Naaseh said. âEven though the score was really bad, a lot of the games were really close. We played well as a team and came back in this [third-place] match. We just started doing different things that worked for us. Even though we lost, we did really well.â
Danielle Pham and Asami beat their University teammates, Kyla Scott and Celine Gruaz, 8-2, in the doubles championship match. Woodbridge junior Stephanie Hazell won her third straight league singles title, beating Chloe Pham, 8-5, in the title match.
All of the singles and doubles finalists qualified for CIF Individuals, which begin with the sectionals on Nov. 25 at CdM. This is the third straight year that no CdM girlsâ player has qualified.
The Sea Kings play at Northwood on Friday in their final league match, which was rained out earlier this week. The CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff brackets will be released Monday.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.