Return with a vengeance

Bryce Alderton

Second-year Estancia High girls tennis coach Rachel de los Santos

didn’t hesitate when asked what her goals were for the Eagles this

year.

“Definitely have a better record than last year,” de los Santos

said, referring to last season when the Eagles didn’t win a match.

“We were in a league where we definitely didn’t match up well at all.

There were schools that were much better than us so I’m definitely

looking forward to this season.”

Estancia moves out of the stacked Pacific Coast League that

features traditional tennis powers Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach and

University to the Golden West League against the likes of Saddleback,

Santa Ana and Ocean View.

To face the Saddlebacks and Santa Anas, de los Santos has a squad

of nine returners and five newcomers.

The returners include seniors Kelly Trettin, Karleen Curran and

Maxine Postel, juniors Stacie Nellor, Kittiya Sudhikam, Huong Thai,

Melissa Morton and Asia Ingram and sophomore Yvonne Zaidler.

Five newcomers feature sophomores Hannah Simmons, Leslie Ybarra,

Marci Kirschberg and Kathryn Kulczyk along with freshman Heather

Morton, Melissa’s sister.

Trettin, Nellor, Zaidler and Curran make up de los Santos’ main

singles lineup while Sudhikam-Thai and the Morton sisters are her

preliminary top two doubles duos.

“My singles players are pretty evenly matched,” de los Santos

said.

De los Santos said the strength of the schools her team plays and

how well certain players play together will determine who plays on a

particular day, and in doubles, with whom.

“I might change up (the lineup) a little bit depending on the team

we’re playing,” she said.

Since sophomores and juniors comprise a majority of a team that

has only three seniors, de los Santos said the team is

“inexperienced,” but five players got their first taste of a varsity

match during Estancia’s opening-match loss against Northwood Tuesday.

“They did really well trying to get used to their doubles partners

and they won some sets,” de los Santos said. “We were just excited

because it’s a huge improvement from when we played Northwood last

year. I think our skills have improved from last year and we’re more

cohesive as a team. Our doubles players work well together and

communicate better with each other than last year.”

The Eagles lost Christy Brooks, Amy Ippolito and Hani Charazaie

from last year’s squad, but de los Santos remains enthused with the

team she has.

“We have Heather Morton, who’s a talented player, along with the

sophomores moving up,” de los Santos said. “With the players we have,

I feel confident. I’m excited we’re in a new league with schools that

we’re going to be able to compete a lot better than last year.”