Sea Kings run Mater Dei off the courts

Richard Dunn

CORONA DEL MAR -- In the season’s first test, the No. 1-ranked

girls tennis team in Southern California, Corona del Mar High’s Sea

Kings, played Thursday like they belong at the top.

“We’ve got a great team,” CdM Coach Andy Stewart said, following

his squad’s 15-3 nonleague victory over visiting Mater Dei in the

season opener.

With senior standout Anne Yelsey nursing a sore right knee and

sitting out the first dance, the Sea Kings blazed through the

Monarchs, ranked fifth in an Orange County poll.

“We’re a little over-ranked,” said Mater Dei Coach Richard Berman,

formerly Newport Harbor’s boys coach.

For the Sea Kings, back in CIF Southern Section Division I after

winning the CIF Division IV championship last year, their six

returning players, along with freshmen Rachel Yelsey and Rachel

Miller at No. 2 doubles, make them as formidable as ever.

“Andy’s team looks good,” said Berman, who starts a pair of

Newport Beach products, freshmen Cassidy Grandstaff and Andrea

Zamucen. “(The Sea Kings) started off No. 1 and it looks like it.

Even with their No. 1 player out, they’re looking real good.”

Junior Brittany Holland stepped in at No. 1 singles and promptly

swept three sets, while losing only one game. “Brittany’s a

superstar,” Stewart said. “She won so many matches last year. She

beat up on everybody.”

Holland, who moved up to the 18s and bypassed her second year in

16s in the Southern California Tennis Association, won two SCTA

tournaments this summer (Fallbrook and Avila Bay) and was invited to

play in the USTA Super Nationals at San Jose.

CdM senior standout Taylynn Snyder swept at No. 2 singles and lost

only two games, while Juliette Mutzky won twice at No. 3 singles. The

Sea Kings opened with a 6-0 lead after the first round.

CdM’s Jamie Steele and Amanda Rubenstein, who also enjoyed fine

summers, swept at No. 1 doubles, while Rachel Yelsey and Miller swept

at No. 2 doubles. Grandstaff and Zamucen, playing Nos. 1 and 2

doubles for Mater Dei, respectively, each won a set over Corona del

Mar’sJackie Manning and Tawny Minna.

NONLEAGUE

Corona del Mar 15, Mater Dei 3

Singles -- Holland (CdM) def. Van Oppen, 6-0, def.

Velasco, 6-1, def. Nguyen, 6-0; Snyder (CdM) won 6-1, 6-1, 6-0;

Mutzky (CdM) lost 3-6, won 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles -- Steele-Rubenstein (CdM) def. Van

Train-Grandstaff, 6-4, def. McGlone-Zamucen, 6-0, def. Kells-Devaney,

6-1; R. Yelsey-Miller (CdM) won 6-4, 6-0, 6-1; Manning-Minna (CdM)

lost 3-6, 4-6, won 6-3.