Carefree Colaizzi Ready to Take On World : Athletics: In tennis or field hockey, the Newport Harbor standout doesn’t back down or hold her tongue.

It doesn’t take long to realize Newport Harbor senior Mara Colaizzi’s aggressive play extends beyond the tennis court or field hockey. She also can be tough with her words.

Moments after Colaizzi and doubles partner Sarah Hawkins disposed of two players from Santa Margarita in 30 minutes, Colaizzi sat down for an interview and came out swinging.

The first topic was the mini-controversy her coach, Charlie Bleiker, stirred up last week by teaming her with Hawkins. Colaizzi and Hawkins normally play Nos. 1 and 2 singles, but Bleiker chose to use the Woodbridge match as the pair’s warmup for the upcoming Section individual championship. Colaizzi and Hawkins won their three doubles sets easily, but the lineup change backfired as Newport Harbor’s singles players failed to win a set. The Sailors lost to Woodbridge by four games, almost blowing a chance to win the school’s first Sea View League title.

Colaizzi didn’t blame Bleiker or herself for the loss, she mostly blamed her teammates.

“We killed them the first time,” she said. “We figured, what it’s going to do by putting Sarah and I together? Actually, in a way, it let the team know that we’re not always going to carry the load. They were depending too much on us. But since then, everybody’s working harder.”

After losing to a team that Newport Harbor, ranked second in the county, had handled 14-4 earlier in the season, Bleiker caught the wrath of opposing coaches and some local reporters for using his quirky lineup against the county’s fifth-ranked team.

The criticism Bleiker received annoys Colaizzi.

“I don’t see why people are so concerned,” she said. “People are so busy worrying about what we do. If coaches spent more time coaching their players and less time worrying about us, their players would play better. They just don’t want their doubles teams to face someone like us.”

Bleiker, who has coached Colaizzi for four years, said nothing she says surprises him anymore.

“She’ll say whatever’s on her mind,” he said. “She’ll criticize her teammates if she feels she needs to.”

Colaizzi is the Charles Barkley of high school girls’ tennis. And like Barkley, she isn’t all talk. She can play, too.

She won 31 of 36 singles sets this season and, so far, she and Hawkins have not been beaten in doubles. Friday, they advanced to the Section individual tournament by winning the league doubles title. As a sophomore, Colaizzi won the singles title.

She wins most of her matches by simply knocking opponents off the court. The baseline, a safe haven for many high school players, is rarely seen by Colaizzi, or Hawkins, for that matter.

Colaizzi said the all-or-nothing style she and Hawkins play has been unsettling to opponents.

“We have fun out there,” Colaizzi said. “We both play the net. Most teams aren’t ready for that and we catch them off guard.”

Colaizzi and Hawkins, who had never played together until the Woodbridge match, are not a typical doubles team.

“We don’t have any strategy,” she said, “we just go out there. We don’t have any hand signals like most of the other teams.”

Colaizzi acknowledged she is a singles player who happens to play doubles.

“I like singles better,” she said. “It’s more of an individual game. In doubles, you have to rely on someone else.”

So why rely on Hawkins?

“I just thought it would be fun to do something different for once,” she said. “I’m so used to playing singles. I thought this would help my doubles game and prepare me for college. It also gives us a good chance to win the title.”

Colaizzi grudgingly admitted her chances of beating players like Palos Verdes Peninsula’s Janet Lee and Nicole London, who handed her two of her losses this season, weren’t great.

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it,” she said.

Bleiker had a different view of Colaizzi’s chances.

“In tennis, there’s reality,” he said. “You don’t beat Pete Sampras unless you’re better than he is.”

Whatever, Hawkins is simply happy Colaizzi accepted her invitation.

“It’s nice to be on the same side of the net with Mara for once,” she said.

Had they chosen to play singles, the chances were fairly good that Hawkins and Colaizzi would have met somewhere in the league tournament. Hawkins said she wasn’t looking forward to it.

“We’ve had some pretty intense battles before,” she said.

But Colaizzi’s battles are not confined to the court.

In a field hockey game last year for Newport Harbor, Colaizzi suffered two black eyes and was thrown out of the game for playing too aggressively and arguing with referees.

Jody Miller, Newport Harbor’s coach, said Colaizzi was almost thrown out of a couple more.

“Mara’s a very aggressive player,” she said. “A lot of other coaches get frustrated by her. A lot of teams know who she is. She has two or three girls on her at all times.”

But that didn’t faze Colaizzi, who scored 38 of her team’s 42 goals last year.

Colaizzi says she’s just having fun.

“I love field hockey,” she said. “It’s such a rad sport. It’s such a contact sport and that fits my personality. It comes so natural to me. I’m not afraid to get hurt. I just don’t care.”