Sea Kings stay strong

The word Coach Brian Ricker used to describe last year’s Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team was “special.”

But really, other adjectives like “outstanding,” “loaded” and, most of all, “unbeaten,” could work just as well.

The 2006 Sea Kings went 24-0 on their way to a CIF Southern Section Division I championship. Not only that, but no match was really even close. In the traditional 18-set format, the closest win CdM got was 11-7, in a nonleague victory over Peninsula.

“I’m trying to get the girls to understand, to not compare this year’s team to last year’s team,” Ricker said. “If we lose a match, it’s normal. Last year was a special year. Now we’re back to reality, but we’re still a strong team.”

But make no mistake about it, some key losses will be felt.

Jill Damion, Hayley and Miranda Young all graduated. Damion, the No. 1 singles player from last year who is headed to UC Santa Barbara, went 37-4 last year in singles. The Young sisters, headed to Tufts University in Boston, went 51-2 at the No. 1 doubles spot.

Cierra Gaytan-Leach, who was at No. 2 singles last year, will also not be returning. The CdM junior has decided not to play in either tennis or golf this fall as she did last year, so she can have more time to play in professional tennis tournaments.

But CdM counters with a mix of returners and newcomers from last year’s Pacific Coast League champion junior varsity team.

Sophomores Hailey Hogan and Melissa Matsuoka, both accomplished tournament players, return for the Sea Kings in singles. Hogan, ranked No. 24 in the Southern California girls’ 16 singles rankings, went 44-7 in regular-season singles for CdM last year.

Matsuoka, ranked No. 35, was 54-4 last year while playing both singles and doubles. She is the defending Pacific Coast League singles champion.

“Basically we have two No. 1 singles players,” Ricker said. “These two girls had a good summer of playing national tournaments. They’ve been working real hard.”

Also returning are juniors Lindsay Zotovich, Karen Ishii and Danielle Kaiden. Zotovich went 50-2 last year in doubles, while Kaiden (44-3) and Ishii (35-6) also fared well. Zotovich and Ishii teamed to advance to the CIF Southern Section Individuals quarterfinals.

“That’s a strong nucleus for doubles right there,” Ricker said. “I’m not sure how we’ll team them up yet.”

Junior Paige Polizois, who transferred from Laguna Beach last year but had elbow tendinitis most of the season, is back healthy again. As a freshman, she helped the Breakers to the CIF Division I championship, so she has two CIF rings already.

Several strong players come up from JV, including senior Kate Stimac, the JV league singles champion from a year ago who could slide into the No. 3 singles spot. Kelli Feeley and Auriel O’Neil teamed to win the JV league doubles championship last year and should also see plenty of playing time on varsity.

Rebecca Beyer, Christina Dialynas, Elizabeth Nguyen and Azadeh Nazemi also excelled on JV last year, and could be in the running for a starting varsity doubles spot.

Relatively speaking, Ricker said the JV team was even more dominant than the Sea Kings’ varsity squad last season.

“Our [varsity] team was so strong last year that it really held some good girls back,” Ricker said. “We have girls that dominated on JV last year, and I think they’ll have a real impact.”

Also adding depth are seniors Alexa Harzan, Annalie Avaheim, Nicki Klein, Nicole and Sara Legrand, Elyse Murphy and Leanne Parsons.

“We’re carrying about 20 girls total on varsity,” Ricker said of his large team.

It’s a team that is getting more and more united. The Sea Kings recently went on a hiking trip, climbing up Mount San Jacinto outside Palm Springs. At 10,834 feet, that’s the second-highest peak in Southern California.

“They don’t like the hiking part, but oh well,” Ricker joked. “It’s a good start to the season.”

There shouldn’t be a long climb back to the top of CIF for the Sea Kings. Ricker said Troy High, with senior standout Alison Ramos, is probably the team to beat.

Corona del Mar beat Troy, 13-5, in the Division I title match last season.

But Ricker said he would put Corona del Mar at No. 2 right now, with Dana Hills and Palos Verdes as other title contenders.

“We’ll be strong in both singles and doubles,” Ricker said. “We just have so much depth at CdM right now.”

Corona del Mar goes to the Fresno Classic tournament on Friday , which Ricker said contains many of the top teams in Northern California. The Sea Kings return home to face Mira Costa on Sept. 11.