Girls tennis: Newport comes close against Peninsula, 10-8

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Despite a losing result Tuesday against perennial

CIF Southern Section Division I power Peninsula High, Newport Harbor’s

girls tennis team had reason to celebrate a little.

Coach Fletcher Olson’s Sailors, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Division II

preseason poll behind Palm Desert and Mater Dei, added standout Natalie

Braverman to their roster.

“We went to the CIF (Division III) finals last year (and lost to Palm

Desert), and we were hoping to go to the CIF finals again this year with

the team we had before Natalie came,” Olson said.

Peninsula (2-2) ended its two-match losing streak -- the longest in

school history -- with a 10-8 nonleague victory over the host Sailors

(2-1), aided largely by sophomore Alex Jurewitz’s upset win over

Braverman in the second round, 7-6 (7-4).

The heavily recruited Braverman, who did not play high school last

year as a junior, felt the wrath of a young, hungry player who “played to

the best of her ability,” according to the Peninsula coach, while

Braverman was “nervous” playing her “first close high school match” in

two years.

“That’s the worst thing you can do, being tentative and playing

nervous,” said Braverman, the 1999 Sea View League singles champion and

CIF quarterfinalist, who played her first high school match of the season

Tuesday.

“Hopefully, in that second (set), I got all the nerves out and I won’t

be seeing it again the rest of the season.”

Braverman, who played a busy schedule of national and international

events in the summer, has several college recruiting trips planned this

fall, including one to UCLA.

“(Braverman) came to me (last week) and told me she wanted to play,”

Olson said. “When I asked the team, they said they would love to have her

back.”

Braverman, a strong baseliner, has also played qualifying rounds on

the USTA Women’s Pro Challenger circuit.

“I got here just in time for (team) pictures and just in time for

Peninsula,” Braverman said. “By midseason I’ll know where I’m going to

college, so I just wanted to have some fun (and play high school

tennis).”

With a laugh, she added: “A couple of hours ago, my goal (for the

season) was to be undefeated.”

After a quick and easy 6-0 win in the first round, Braverman was stung

in a second-round tie-breaker by Jurewitz.

“That’s a huge win for (Jurewitz),” said Peninsula assistant coach

Margaux Pettitt, filling in for head coach Tom Cox, who was out of town

attending a family funeral.

The presence of Braverman, however, will bolster an already potent

Newport Harbor lineup, especially in the playoffs.

In Tuesday’s match, following a 3-3 tie in the first round, one of the

Peninsula fathers showed up with large smoothies for each visiting

player, bringing a degree of relief for the Panthers on a hot day.

They came out in the second round with another 7-5 win in doubles,

while Jurewitz, playing No. 3 singles for Peninsula, beat Braverman,

Newport Harbor’s No. 1 singles player. It gave the Panthers a 7-5 edge

heading into the final round.

Early in the third round, Peninsula’s second doubles team of Christina

Jackson and Macall Harkins defeated Harbor’s No. 1 team of Krista McIntosh and Bonnie Adams, 6-3. Then the Panthers’ No. 1 doubles unit of

Nikki LaBrucherie and Danielle Holt topped Newport’s No. 3 doubles team

of Vanessa Dunlap and A.J. Olson, 6-3, for Peninsula’s ninth set.

Jurewitz provided the clinching 10th set for the Panthers with a 6-0

win over Newport’s Megan Hawkins.

Peninsula had its 66-match winning streak snapped last week by Corona

del Mar, then lost again Monday at home to Calabasas on games, 73-72,

after a 9-9 tie. The Panthers were also missing their best player

Tuesday, Shilpa Joshi, who was sick.

“Yeah, missing Shilpa was a surprise, but we have the depth to

overcome her loss,” Pettitt said.Kelly Nelson won at third singles and

Carmen Khoury and Diana Khoury won at second doubles for Newport Harbor

in the final round to make it close.

McIntosh and Adams won two of three sets at No. 1 doubles for the

Tars, who travel to Capistrano Valley for a nonleague match today at 2

p.m., then open the Sea View League campaign Friday at home against Aliso

Niguel at 2 p.m.

NONLEAGUE

Peninsula 10, Newport Harbor 8

Singles - Braverman (NH) def. Zinklewiez, 6-0, def. Comstock, 6-4,

lost to Jurewitz, 6-7 (4); Hawkins (NH) won 6-1, lost 1-6, 0-6; Nelson (NH) won 6-0, lost 3-6, 0-6.

Doubles - McIntosh-Adams (NH) def. LaBrucherie-Holt, 6-2, lost to

Jackson-Harkins, 3-6, def. Stearns-Weber, 7-5; C. Khoury-D. Khoury (NH)

lost 3-6, 5-7, won 6-4; Dunlap-Olson (NH) lost 3-6, 2-6, won 7-5.