Girls tennis: Braverman goes down in semifinals

Richard Dunn

HUNTINGTON BEACH - In a CIF Southern Section individual girls

tennis singles championship semifinal with more twists and turns Tuesday

than the swirling winds at SeaCliff Country Club, top-seeded sophomore

Lindsey Nelson of Villa Park High defeated Newport Harbor senior and

fourth-seeded Natalie Braverman, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

The Pepperdine-bound Braverman, the first Newport Harbor player to

advance to the CIF individual singles final, enjoyed a 3-1 lead in the

third set, but Nelson came back to win.

“I think I got more confidence, because I wasn’t so nervous and

figured I had nothing to lose being down, 1-3,” said Nelson, who

eventually lost to Canyon’s Tracy Lin, 6-3, 6-4 in the championship

match.

The back-and-forth match was also evident in the second set, when

Braverman built a commanding 5-0 lead but received a scare as Nelson

pulled to within 5-3, before the Newport Harbor standout held on for the

win to force a third set.

“I felt a lot of this match had momentum swings back and forth,”

Braverman said. “Like in those (first) five games of the second set I

really had the momentum, then it jumped back (Nelson’s) way and she had

the momentum.”

Braverman, ranked 16th in Southern California in the United States

Tennis Association 18s division, finished the season with a 25-3 record

and a career mark of 43-5.

“I don’t think it was my best match,” Braverman said of the semifinal

setback. “I think I played better earlier in the tournament.”

In the quarterfinals, Braverman defeated Anne Yelsey of Corona del

Mar, 6-3, 6-3. Yelsey, a junior, is ranked 19th in Southern California in

the 18s.

“I’m sad (the season) is over, obviously,” Braverman said. “I had

higher expectations. I don’t think the (cold and windy) conditions were

ideal, but (Nelson) adjusted to the wind more than I did.”

Newport Harbor’s best previous showing in the CIF individual

championships came in 1993, when Mara Colazzi and Sarah Hawkins reached

the doubles final.