Girls’ Tennis: Big win for CdM

MANHATTAN BEACH — For the first time this season, the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team beat a team ranked higher than the Sea Kings in CIF Southern Section Division 1.

CdM, ranked No. 7 in Division 1, not only won Wednesday’s nonleague match at No. 5 Mira Costa. The score would also raise some eyebrows.

CdM pulled away for a 13-5 victory that Coach Brian Ricker called his team’s best match of the year.

It was easy to see why, as everyone contributed for CdM (12-4). The first round was big, with CdM winning two sets that tilted the match in the visitors’ favor.

Danielle Willson beat her friend, Amy Gaal of Mira Costa, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. Then CdM’s No. 3 singles player, Elena Fish, finished off a 7-5 victory over Isabelle Lau.

These set wins helped the Sea Kings earn a 4-2 lead after the round, and they were rolling after that.

“That really set the tone,” Ricker said. “That put us up 4-2, winning those two close ones, and got us off to a good start. That was really big, especially having the singles girls do it, because we’ve been kind of doubles dominant most of the year.”

The freshman Willson swept, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. The win over Gaal, who Willson has played doubles with in the past, was a big one, especially considering that Willson has lost a number of close singles sets this year.

“I haven’t been able to finish sets off,” Willson said. “I think it’s good that I’m starting to win sets now by closing them out.”

Fish won two 7-5 sets, including in the last round over Mira Costa’s Taylor Klein, and CdM sophomore Jasie Dunk won one of three sets.

The Sea Kings did dominate in doubles, too. Riley Gerdau and Siena Sharf swept, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, improving to 45-3 this season. Taylor Fogarty and Camellia Edalat won twice at No. 2 doubles, including a 7-6 (8-6) victory over Mira Costa’s No. 1 team of sisters Isabella and Katarina Draskovic.

Shelby Anderson and Erica Chen won one of two sets, then Anderson and sub Paige Kenerson won their last set to provide the 10th and clinching set win early in the third round.

“We won six in singles and seven in doubles,” Ricker said. “Nice team balance. They had good doubles teams, and we still won seven out of nine.”

Gaal won two singles sets for Mira Costa, which fell to 12-2. Coach Joe Ciasulli knows it will probably be 12-3 after Thursday, as his team plays host to top-ranked Palos Verdes Peninsula for the second time in league.

Ciasulli said he felt the Mustangs might be over-ranked at No. 5 in Division 1, but he still gave credit to the Sea Kings.

“They were a much better team than we were,” Ciasulli said. “They were more aggressive. We had [four] sets that went down to 5-7 or a tiebreaker, and they won them all. I would hope that my girls can learn from that kind of aggression, rather than being as passive as they are.”

CdM plays at Woodbridge on Thursday, then at rival University on Tuesday. The Sea Kings lost to the Trojans, 13-5, in the teams’ first league meeting Oct. 2, but a number of the sets were close.

“I think Riley and I feel more confident, since we swept them last time,” Sharf said. “It’s still going to be a hard match. I think we have a chance.”

So does Ricker.

“We did lose three 5-7 [sets] and a 6-4,” Ricker said. “If we pick up a couple of those, all of a sudden it’s a pretty good match. I feel like Danielle’s improving. There’s a good opportunity for her to get a couple of points there, and maybe we can get it a little closer this time.”