Girls’ Tennis: Sailors earn big win
FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Kendall Cosenza and Anna Burke have been varsity doubles starters on the Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis team for three years now.
The juniors have gotten stronger as tennis players, but also at the mental side of the game. They got a chance to prove it Thursday afternoon at Fountain Valley High.
Cosenza and Burke were locked in an intense battle with Barons juniors Ruth Nguyen and Vivian Nguyen, the last set on court of a crucial Sunset League match.
Cosenza and Burke fell behind in the must-win set, 3-1. Then, somehow, with all eyes on them, they found a way to get the job done.
They won that last set 6-4, helping Newport Harbor win on games, 9-9 (72-65), and move into outright second place at the halfway point of league play.
“It was really all about who could keep their feet moving, who had more energy, who was mentally stronger,” Burke said. “At first, it took us a little while to get in the groove, but we knew that we had to pull it out for our team. That’s what changed, the mentality that we had to do it for them.”
The Sailors (9-4, 4-1 in league) were able to upset the Barons (9-5, 3-2), who came into the match ranked No. 9 in Orange County by the Register. They couldn’t have done it without Cosenza and Burke, who earned a big 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 sweep at No. 1 doubles.
But everyone contributed against a rapidly improving Fountain Valley team that finished just 4-6 in league a year ago, and 1-9 in 2012.
“So far, it’s working out,” Coach Harshul Patel said. “We never used to be in the conversation.”
The Sailors are more than used to being in the conversation, after winning four straight league titles from 2008-11 and finishing second to Los Alamitos the last two years.
They showed Thursday that they might just finish top-two again.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” said Coach Kristen Case, whose Sailors earned their first win against an Orange County top 10 team this season. “I really feel like today, going in, we were very mentally prepared to play this match. We’ve played so much tennis over the past two months. A lot of times it comes down to the mental toughness, and being prepared to compete and prepared to battle. We knew that we would have to come in with the mindset of loving the battle.”
Senior co-captain Annie LaGrandeur and junior Olivia Zehnder won twice at No. 2 doubles, and senior co-captain Courtney Howarth and junior Elle Zielinski won once at No. 3.
Newport’s singles players — Jenn Kingsley, Nicole Knickerbocker and Hannah Blower — all won once. But Kingsley, especially, battled to earn key games that would help the Sailors late in the match.
Kingsley fought gamely before losing to Fountain Valley freshman phenom Hanh Pham, 6-4, in the first round. Pham is undefeated this year. Kingsley was also able to get the most games, two, off the Barons’ other talented freshman, Katherine Nguyen.
Pham and Nguyen each swept for the hosts, helping Thursday’s match stay close throughout. It was tied, 3-3, after the first round and 6-6 after the second round. However, by then, Newport Harbor had opened up a 48-41 games advantage.
LaGrandeur and Zehnder topped Fountain Valley’s Vickie Nguyen and Tia Wheelock, 6-2, in the third round, earning the Sailors’ eighth set. Then attention turned to Cosenza and Burke, who were locked in an absolute battle.
Burke served for the match at 5-3, but she was broken. However, Cosenza and Burke were able break serve right back to secure the win.
“I think it was backed up with our preparation,” Cosenza said. “We’ve worked so hard, and it was going to be who’s going to push more for this, who wants it more. I think Anna and I just came together and decided that we were going to end up on top.”
At ad-out (set point) on Ruth Nguyen’s serve, a Fountain Valley lob near the baseline was called out by Cosenza. But the Fountain Valley line judge and parents behind the court saw the shot as in. Case agreed with her player that it was out, and the point was eventually replayed.
This time, the Fountain Valley shot was clearly out, and their teammates mobbed Cosenza and Burke.
“It’s what we want for right now,” Case said. “We want continued progress. We’re going to enjoy this right now, until [Friday], and then we have to get back to work. We’re going to start our second round of league play next week, and we have a tough league.”
In the second round of league, the Sailors will get to face both defending champion Los Alamitos and Fountain Valley at home. They play host to the Griffins, ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, on Tuesday. The rematch with Fountain Valley is the league finale on Oct. 27.
Burke said her team will be ready.
“I think we sent a message [today] that we’re here, we’re not leaving, we’re not giving up,” Burke said. “We kind of left our mark. We’d love to see them at our home courts and see where the match goes then.
“We’re coming out at our home courts and finishing off with an even better score than [today]. We’re going to clutch that second place or first place [in league].”
