Sea Kings bounced, 10-8

Richard Dunn

IRVINE -- It didn’t take long for Corona del Mar High’s

top-ranked, top-featured, top-everyone’s list girls tennis team to

receive a douse of humble pie and lose a match.

It happened Thursday as host Woodbridge, ranked No. 8 in the

preseason CIF Southern Section Division I poll, shocked the Sea

Kings, 10-8, in nonleague play.

“I still think we’ll win CIF Division I this year,” said CdM Coach

Andy Stewart, whose squad continued to play without senior standout

Anne Yelsey, the Sea Kings’ No. 1 player who is nursing a sprained

right knee.

“This is a wake-up call. People want to beat us. (The Warriors)

were ready to play and they changed their lineup. They didn’t have

their best players in singles. Maybe that’s what we needed to do, but

I like to play people straight up. We won six of nine in singles.

“If we’re going to lose one match, I’d like it to be now and not

in CIF. We’ve still got to get ready for our matches (even though CdM

is ranked No. 1 in Division I). We can’t just show up and play

tennis. Or maybe I’ve got to come up with something better.”

As CdM senior Jamie Steele slammed an overhead winner to cap her

No. 1 doubles team’s victory in the last set, it merely moved the

final score closer, but could have just as easily sent a message of

frustration for Corona del Mar.

“We thought we could play with them in doubles, and I thought Liz

(Exon) would sweep (at No. 1 singles),” Woodbridge Coach Rick Barth

said. “Corona del Mar’s a good team, but let’s be honest. With them

not having their No. 1 player really helped us a lot.”

Unlike last year when the Sea Kings captured the CIF Division IV

championship without their full squad, Stewart said the Sea Kings

cannot win the CIF Division I title in November without their top

three singles players -- Yelsey, senior Taylynn Snyder and junior

Brittany Holland.

The Sea Kings (2-1), ranked No. 1 in the Los Angeles Times

Southland poll, dropped seven of nine doubles sets as Barth tinkered

with his lineup, moving sophomore singles star Ashley Williams to No.

3 doubles and bumping his No. 1 doubles team of Heather Hustedt and

Lindsay Rye down to No. 2 doubles.

“(Yelsey) had never lost a set against Woodbridge in three years,

but we still should have beat them,” said Stewart, who added that

he’s still searching for a consistent No. 3 doubles team, and, when

Yelsey returns to the lineup, he has the luxury of moving junior

Juliette Mutzke back to doubles.

Exon, a left-hander and highly recruited player, swept Holland,

Snyder and Mutzke, 6-0, 6-1, 6-3, while the Warriors’ No. 2 doubles

team (Hustedt-Rye) swept 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

Woodbridge’s No. 1 doubles team of freshman Lily Cao and sophomore

Carolyn Hustedt won two of three sets, as did the Warriors’ No. 3

team of sophomores Samantha Reeve and Williams.

“(Exon) came out smoking,” Barth said, referring to her

first-round shutout over Holland.

In a wild first-round set, Mutzke defeated freshman Natalie Call,

7-5, to end the round and tie the match, 3-3, before Woodbridge

pulled ahead in the second round, 7-5, sparked by the Woodbridge No.

2 doubles team’s 6-3 win over Steele and Amanda Rubenstein.

In the third round, Woodbridge again won two of three sets, while

Exon took care of Snyder (considering UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine

and USC) in the round’s featured singles set.

“It’s better to take a loss now than later in the year,” Stewart

said. “This will be good for us ... I come into every match thinking

we’re going to win. Our goal is to be undefeated. Even if we’re

missing Anne or anybody else, I still think we’re going to win.”