Corona del Mar girls’ tennis on top in Surf League
The Corona del Mar and Huntington Beach high school girls tennis teams have traded off the Surf League title over the last few years.
This year, the Sea Kings reign with their depth.
Corona del Mar won 11-7 at Huntington Beach High on Tuesday to clinch at least a share of the league title with two matches remaining. The Sea Kings can win it outright Thursday with a win at home over an improved Fountain Valley squad.
CdM, ranked No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, improved to 12-4 overall and 4-0 in league. That’s ahead of defending champion Huntington Beach (9-4, 2-2).
Senior Yen Nhi Huynh-Nguyen easily won her three singles sets for the Oilers, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. But CdM’s Sophia Andrei-Birca, Emilie Lew and Sienna Brooks were all able to easily win their other two singles sets.
“I have to be on my top game every time I play them,” said Andrei-Birca, a senior. “Yen played smarter today, she played better than me, but I did have to fight to get those two games and definitely deserved those [other two] wins.”
The twin sister tandem of sophomores Polina and Sasha Briggs swept in doubles for CdM, which also got two wins from its No. 1 team of seniors Sasha Fellner and Elodie Dennison.
The teams split two marathon first-round doubles matches. Huntington Beach seniors Sophia Straub and Ella Weisman edged Fellner and Dennison, 7-6 (7-5). But the Briggs sisters topped the Oilers’ Le Nhi Huynh-Nguyen and Eve Hazard by the same score, helping CdM earn an early 4-2 sets lead.
Straub and Weisman edged CdM’s Lillia Edalat and Isabel Roytman 7-6 (7-5) in the second round, but all of the other sets played were lopsided.
“It was kind of a long grind of a match, with not that much interesting tennis, but a win’s a win,” CdM coach Jamie Gresh said. “We got a win on the road. My kids are there to compete. We play fast and we’re in shape and we’re ready to go, so we’re dialed in for all these matches for sure.”
After Huntington Beach won its first Surf League title in 2020, CdM was back on top in 2021. The teams seemed destined for a split last year.
But on Senior Day last year against Newport Harbor, Gresh inserted all of his seniors after a 5-1 first round. The Sailors came back for a 10-8 upset victory in the league finale, giving Huntington Beach the outright league crown.
“It was just a really big mess,” Andrei-Birca said with a laugh. “He subbed everyone out really early, put the seniors in and it just went downhill from there. But it’s OK, he said it won’t happen again.”
Huntington Beach, which has had a lot of coaching turnover in recent years, has a first-year head coach in Jill Muranaka. She said the Oilers’ coach last year, Megan Wilson, died of breast cancer at the age of 37 last December, following the season.
Wilson, an Edison High tennis graduate who left behind a husband and two children, started a nonprofit, Still We Rise Against Breast Cancer, before she passed. It continues to accept donations that will go to individuals and families closely impacted by breast cancer.
A fundraising event at the Huntington Club on Sunday raised more than $26,000, Muranaka said.
Weisman said the Oilers are grateful that they’ve had an assistant coach, Brett Halpin, as a stabilizing force.
“[Wilson] left a lot for the program,” Weisman said. “Not only did she leave a letter and a message to us, but she also left her ideals and her style that I think the coaches have carried on.”
Huntington Beach hosts Los Alamitos on Thursday.
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