Girls tennis: Sea Kings come up short in doubles final

Richard Dunn

HUNTINGTON BEACH - While Corona del Mar High’s girls tennis program

racks up CIF Southern Section team championships, it’s been a different

spin when it comes to doubles in the CIF individual championships.

Junior Taylynn Snyder and sophomore Brittany Holland gave it quite a

run Tuesday, reaching the CIF doubles title match against Celia Durkin

and Erin Everly of Calabasas.

Durkin and Everly, pushed to the limit in a semifinal that lasted

nearly three hours against Peninsula’s Colby Comstock and Nikki

LaBrucherie, rallied to defeat Snyder and Holland in three sets, 6-7 (2),

6-3, 6-3 at SeaCliff Country Club.

Snyder and Holland, who played singles most of the season for the

back-to-back CIF Division IV champion Sea Kings, advanced to the finals

with an impressive 6-4, 6-1 victory over Palm Desert’s Jennifer Joy and

Ashley Mettert in the semifinals. Joy and Mettert cleared the way for

everyone else when they eliminated the top-seeded Peninsula team of

Shilpa Joshi and Macall Harkins, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in the quarterfinals.

But, while Snyder and Holland made quick work of Joy and Mettert,

Durkin and Everly battled almost endlessly in cold, windy conditions

against Peninsula’s other doubles team in the semifinals, winning two

tie-breakers in their thrilling comeback victory, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).

In the finals, the first time a CdM tandem has reached the section

title match since Megan Wachtler and Alissa Scott in 1994, Snyder and Holland won a first-set tie-breaker and enjoyed a 2-1 advantage in the

second set.

But Durkin and Everly won eight of the next nine games as they

captured the second set and took a 4-0 lead in the third set.

“(Snyder and Holland) looked like they were getting tired in the third

set,” said Durkin, whose forehand volley at the net closed out the match,

which was played mostly under the lights.

Despite its illustrious girls tennis history, which includes a

national team championship in 1997 and myriad individual standouts,

Corona del Mar hasn’t won a CIF doubles title since Lily Valdes and Holly

Blare in 1971, the first year the section held a tournament for girls

since 1938.

“There’s always next year,” said a disappointed Snyder. “We needed

better communication, so there are some things we need to work on.”

In the first set, the return of serve became the best weapon for both

teams, leading to 10 straight games with a service break, interrupted

only by CdM’s win in the opening-set tie-breaker, 7-2.

“I think we played well,” Holland said. “It was a close match.”

Calabasas broke Snyder’s serve in the fifth game of the second set for

a 3-2 lead, capped by Durkin’s overhead winner, as Durkin-Everly started

to take control of the match.

In the third set, the Sea Kings broke Everly, then Holland held serve

as Corona del Mar showed signs of a comeback. Calabasas, however, held

serve the rest of the way.