Girls’ Tennis: CdM sweeps Battle
Battle of the Bay week kicked off Tuesday afternoon at Corona del Mar High, with the annual girls’ tennis match between the host Sea Kings and rival Newport Harbor.
The girls’ volleyball match is Thursday night at CdM, and the football game is Friday night at Newport Harbor. But first, the girls’ tennis teams did battle on a hot afternoon.
One casual CdM girls’ tennis fan walked past the courts moments before the match began. CdM football Coach Scott Meyer, his team on a 29-game winning streak, wished good luck to girls’ tennis Coach Brian Ricker and the rest of the Sea Kings.
Luck, though, had nothing to do with the ensuing result.
The Sea Kings swept to an 18-0 victory, winning the Battle of the Bay match for the third straight year.
While it may not be as famous as the football team’s winning streak, the girls’ tennis team has a streak it can also find pride in. Counting the California Tennis Classic tournament in Fresno that the Sea Kings won, CdM doubles teams are now 60-0 in sets this season.
CdM (4-0), ranked No. 4 in the initial CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, got its usual strong performance from senior Riley Gerdau and junior Siena Sharf at No. 1 doubles. They earned the “triple bagel” with three 6-0 wins, improving to 20-0 on the season.
CdM senior Taylor Fogarty and sophomore Camellia Edalat swept, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles. And juniors Erica Chen and Paige Kenerson swept, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3 doubles.
Ricker is still tinkering with the Sea Kings’ doubles teams. Senior Shelby Anderson (sick) did not play Tuesday but is also very much in the mix. Sophomore Jasie Dunk was slated to play singles this year, but hasn’t always been able to do so due to a right shoulder injury.
“We’ve had to change things around a little bit, looking for just the right combinations,” Ricker said. “I feel like everyone is executing well on what we work on in practice, which is keeping the ball in play and getting nice and close to the net, and putting volleys away. It’s working out for us. I’m still trying to figure out what the teams are. Basically, we have 10 players that I’d like to play, but only nine get to play. We’re still really rotating around No. 3 doubles, and all three are quality players that could be starters.”
Gerdau, a four-year starter, was certainly excited about winning Battle of the Bay her senior year, as well as the “triple bagel” with Sharf. Newport Harbor won the Battle of the Bay match when Gerdau was a freshman, but the Sea Kings have posted 11-7, 16-2 and 18-0 victories the last three years.
“I’m just happy that we won my senior year Battle of the Bay,” Gerdau said, starting to laugh. “And bagels. I like those bagels that we got. It was three bagels. I’m getting a little chunky these days.
“I was expecting it to be a little bit different, because [the Sailors] are a team that also focuses more on their doubles teams than their singles [players], which we don’t usually play against. Siena and I were going in thinking that we were going to have really tough competition. Our mindset was that we were going to have to try way harder than usual, because it was Battle of the Bay too.”
Gerdau and Sharf did have some very long rallies with Newport juniors Kendall Cosenza and Anna Burke in their first set, but were able to win each game. Meanwhile, on the singles courts, Dunk and Elena Fish were edging close victories to give CdM the early 6-0 sets lead.
Dunk topped Jenn Kingsley, 6-4. Fish, who celebrated her 16th birthday on Monday, withstood a late rally to edge Nicole Knickerbocker, 6-4.
Dunk and Fish both swept their three sets, while No. 1 singles player Danielle Willson also easily swept, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1.
“CdM was a very good team,” Newport Coach Kristen Case said. “They played very well, they’re a great group of tennis players and they taught us a lot today. I really don’t see this match as much of a loss, if we can really learn from it and use it to our advantage moving forward. We’re in a good place.
“There are things that we have improved on a lot. We’re competing a lot better, and we’re staying a lot mentally stronger. There’s just some execution things that we need to work on, and I think that would have made a big difference in a lot of the sets today. We set up the points well, but then we missed a couple of opportunities to execute. Against a top-notch team like this, you’re not going to get away with that.”
Newport Harbor (2-3) plays St. Margaret’s, ranked No. 6 in Division 2, on Thursday at Rancho San Clemente Tennis and Fitness Club. CdM, meanwhile, has a tough test Wednesday as it plays host to JSerra, ranked No. 10 in the initial Division 1 poll. Ricker said JSerra has three very good singles players. The Sea Kings then play at Laguna Beach, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, on Thursday.
However those matches go, Ricker always sees the Battle of the Bay match as a good experience, no matter the score. Both teams displayed good sportsmanship on the courts Tuesday.
“The Battle of the Bay rivalry for all of the sports is really important,” Ricker said. “It’s great for the community, it’s great for the kids, it’s great for school spirit on both sides. I don’t think it’s such a big deal who wins or loses, as long as all of the games get played ... I think the overall theme of this day is more important than the final score. We got lucky and won all of the close sets today, so the score looks worse than it is, but it’s a fun day.”
