Girls’ Tennis: Sea Kings fall in semis
CLAREMONT — For the second straight postseason tournament, the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team ran into the team that many consider the best in the country.
Or, to put it more accurately, the Panthers ran over the Sea Kings both times.
A 15-3 loss to Peninsula in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals last week ended CdM’s dreams of a CIF title. A 6-1 loss to Peninsula in a CIF USTA Southern Regional semifinal ended CdM’s season on Friday at The Claremont Club.
No. 5-seeded CdM was simply not able to contend with top-seeded Peninsula’s bevy of highly-ranked tournament players. But perspective still was not in short supply as the Sea Kings loaded up their belongings for the bus ride home.
“Semis – semis [of both tournaments] is a really good season,” CdM Coach Brian Ricker told his players, who defeated Laguna Beach, 5-2, in a regional quarterfinal match earlier Friday.
CdM advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time in program history. The Sea Kings even became the first team to win against Peninsula in the three regional matches so far, as Shelby Anderson and Erica Chen defeated Mina Sung and Delaney Kaufman, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 3 doubles.
Otherwise, Peninsula dominated. The defending Southern Regional champion Panthers earned their way back into the title match, where they will take on Torrey Pines on Saturday at 1 p.m. Torrey Pines got past University in another regional semifinal.
Peninsula easily swept CdM in singles. Ena Shibahara topped Danielle Willson, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 1 singles, and Ryan Peus earned a 6-2, 6-1 win over Elena Fish at No. 2. Peninsula’s Kenadi Hance beat CdM’s Camellia Edalat, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles, while Alana Roth earned a 6-1, 6-1 win over Emily Fujita at No. 4 singles.
The Panthers also dominated the top two doubles matches. Last year’s CIF Individuals finalists, Risa Nakagawa and Sara Khattab, defeated CdM’s Riley Gerdau and Siena Sharf for the third time this season, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 1 doubles. And Peninsula’s No. 2 team of Tia Elpusan and Sarina Liu defeated Taylor Fogarty and Jasie Dunk, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles.
“It’s the best tennis we’re ever going to have to play against,” said Gerdau, a senior co-captain along with Fogarty. “It was good competition, good people to lose to, so we aren’t sad about it. We had fun with it.”
The Sea Kings left Claremont knowing just how much they had improved this season. Individually, the improvement of typical No. 2 singles player Dunk and No. 3 Fish were critical to CdM’s success.
“We’re usually known for being really good in doubles, and not so good in singles,” Sharf said. “This year, we were strong in both.”
This was true earlier Saturday in the win over CIF Southern Section Division 2 semifinalist Laguna Beach, a match that started about two hours later than the scheduled time of noon due to wet courts at The Claremont Club.
Fish earned a 7-5, 6-1 win over Ashley Fair at No. 3 singles, and Anderson defeated Iman Berri, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 4 singles.
The doubles teams of Gerdau and Sharf, Fogarty and Edalat, as well as Chen and Paige Kenerson, all won without dropping a set.
Though the team season is over, Gerdau, Sharf and Willson will continue play in the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament. They earned their spots by advancing to the title matches of the Pacific Coast League tournament on Oct. 30.
Gerdau and Sharf in doubles, as well as Willson in singles, each have first-round byes for the initial three rounds of the CIF Individuals tournament, which will be played at CdM on Monday.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Gerdau said. “I’m excited to see the kind of players that we’re playing against, because we haven’t faced a lot of them that we’re going to see. I’m excited to see a whole new level of tennis.”
