Brymer Measures Up in Her Golden Season

The reward for winning U.S. junior national tennis tournaments is a golden tennis ball.

Top young players like senior Tiffany Brymer of Rio Mesa High collect the trophies as tokens of their progress on the court.

For winning the Southern Section singles title three weeks ago, Brymer got a wooden plaque that, to her, was just as good as gold.

“It’s different, of course,” Brymer said. “But it was a goal that I set for myself, and you always want to reach your goal. Now I can say that, in this case, I did.

“And if anybody ever asks me about it, I’ll say it’s one of the best things I ever did as a junior player.”

Brymer, The Times’ region player of the year, cherishes the Southern Section title and the trophy she got for winning it because they marked more than token progress on her part.

Brymer earned them by overcoming sophomore Luana Magnani of San Marino and an early deficit in the final.

“She’s not without her competitive temper when she’s angry with herself,” Coach Steve Worthington of Rio Mesa said.

Frustrated with her poor play in losing the first set and then a 2-0 lead in the second set against Magnani, Brymer engaged in a verbal tirade on the court, saying, “I called myself an idiot.”

She did it loud enough to earn a warning for poor behavior from the referee before Brymer gained control and won, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

“It was a big step forward for me,” Brymer said.

“I’ve been told about maintaining my composure and that I would be a better player if I do that. It’s something I’ve been working on, and being able to come back and win after that was kind of proof of that.”

There was little else for Brymer to prove in her only season as a high school player.

She is seeded sixth in the girls’ 18s division in Southern California by the U.S. Tennis Assn. and will attend USC on a tennis scholarship next year.

Although Rio Mesa finished 9-9, including a 4-5 record in the Pacific View League, Brymer never lost a match and was taken to three sets only twice, in the league singles final by Lauren Gaona of Camarillo, and in the section final.

Brymer, who transferred to Rio Mesa in September after spending her junior year at a tennis academy in Ojai, did not begin playing for the Spartans until October.

But as the team’s No. 1 player, she posted a 17-0 record in singles sets and went 3-0 in doubles during the regular season. She followed up by winning the league singles championship and seven playoff matches en route to the Southern Section title.

The section title was the third won by a Rio Mesa player in four years and the fourth in a row for a player from the region.

Zuzana Stunova of Rio Mesa, now at Washington, won consecutive championships in 1995 and ’96 and Marissa Irvin of Harvard-Westlake claimed the title last season.

“It’s another feather in our cap,” said Worthington, who wasn’t surprised Brymer put it there. “Tiffany’s the kind of person who sets some standards for herself that are really pretty high.”

But Brymer measured up well.