Newport rolls over CdM

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - Wednesday was not a good day for Corona del Mar

High’s girls tennis team.

Not only did it lose to rival and host Newport Harbor a nonleague match,

16-2, but all three Sea Kings singles player reaggravated injuries.

Kim Singer was icing her wrist after her first match, Nadia Vaughan’s

tendinitis in her elbow acted up, and Anne Yelsey’s back problem

resurfaced.

All three players had to retire in their last matches. Vaughan and Singer

are out for CdM’s next match against Costa Mesa today while Yelsey is

listed as questionable.

Not that a healthy Sea King squad would have changed the outcome.

The Sailors, No. 1 in Orange County, were at their absolute best against

CdM, No. 5 in Division I.

“It wouldn’t have made a difference whether our players were healthy or

not,” CdM Coach Andy Stewart said. “(Newport Harbor) has no weakness.

They’re the best team in the area. They really handed it to us today.”

The match looked like it would be close early on. In an anticipated No. 1

singles match between Vaughan and Newport Harbor’s Natalie Braverman,

Vaughan built up a 5-1 lead with powerful ground strokes that seemed to

frustrate Braverman.

Then Braverman came roaring back. She won five points in a row before

Vaughan pulled out a game to tie the set 6-6. Braverman won the

tiebreaker 7-2 to complete the improbable comeback.

“I was expecting to play perfect,” Braverman said. “After a while, I just

loosened up and stuck with my game. I became more aggressive.”

In the No. 2 singles match, Yelsey led Audra Adam 3-2 before Adams

managed to pull out a 6-4 win. Losing the top two singles matches proved

to be too much for CdM. Harbor’s Chelsea Godbey and the three doubles

team won their opening matches easily to take a 6-0 lead.

The Tars led 10-0 before Yelsey got a point for the Sea Kings with a win

over Godbey.

Laura Claster and Katie Tenerelli added the only doubles win for CdM at

the end.

Newport Harbor’s doubles team looked particularly strong, winning eight

of nine sets. After a 9-0 shellacking from Peninsula, Newport Harbor

Coach Fletcher Olson reshuffled the doubles lineup and it has worked out

so far. Playing especially well is Kristen Case and Jenny Meyer, who only

dropped two games in their three sets against CdM and have yet to lose a

set together.

“Today, our doubles team stepped up,” Olson said, “and Case and Meyer

looked so good.”The win improves Newport Harbor to 11-1. CdM drops to

7-5.

NONCONFERENCE

Newport Harbor 16, Corona del Mar 2

Singles: Braverman (NH) def. Vaughan 7-6, def. Yelsey (retired), def.

Singer 6-1; Adam (NH) won 6-1, 6-4, (retired); Godbey (NH) won (retired),

lost 1-6, won 6-2.

Doubles: Case-Meyer (NH) def. Damien-Griffith 6-1, def. Charney-Jacobson

6-1, def. Claster-Tenerelli 6-0; Collopy-Hawkins (NH) won 7-5, 6-2, lost

4-6; Schneider-Barker won 7-5, 6-1, 6-3.