Sailors defend title

Technically, Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis coach Kristen Case spent her 33rd birthday on Saturday working.

But after watching the Sailors collectively step up to win the Lightning Invitational tournament for the fourth time in five years, then being presented with a birthday cake resembling a tennis court as the players sang “Happy birthday,” Case surely did not mind.

“I just love them,” Case said of her players, after they earned the title by edging host Sage Hill, 5-4, under the lights at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. “We have so much fun together. We’re like a family. I wouldn’t have really wanted to be anywhere else.”

The teamwork that Case stresses in her program came to the forefront in the 14th annual Lightning Invitational, which features five singles sets and four doubles sets, with players allowed to play both. Newport Harbor had enough to hold off one of the best Sage Hill teams in recent years.

Sailors senior Jenn Kingsley was named tournament singles MVP, while seniors Kendall Cosenza and Anna Burke earned doubles MVP honors. Juniors Lily Walkow and Hannah Blower also made the all-tournament team for Newport Harbor.

“It’s kind of her gift,” Cosenza said of winning the title on Case’s birthday.

Senior Jaclyn Gerschultz, freshman Michelle Hung, sophomore Isabella Deckey and sophomore Maya Byrd were all-tournament team honorees from Sage Hill. Like the Sailors, the Lightning easily beat the other teams in the field, including rival St. Margaret’s, San Juan Hills and a “B” team from Sage Hill. The Lightning’s Miranda deBruyne and Hannah Herin made the all-tournament team from the Sage Hill “B” team.

It became obvious Saturday afternoon that the Sailors and Lightning were the top two contenders in the tournament. The teams started in singles, where each won a pair of sets relatively quickly. Kingsley impressively blanked Gerschultz, 6-0, at No. 1 singles, while Burke earned a 6-2 victory over Sage’s Nicole Condas at No. 5 singles. The Lightning got wins from Hung over Blower, 7-5, at No. 3 singles, as well as Byrd earning a 6-3 decision over Misha Pokusa at No. 4 singles.

Attention turned to the No. 2 singles court, where Walkow and Deckey were battling it out. The two former Harbor Day students definitely had a set to remember.

Deckey saved a set point serving at 5-6 to bring the set to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, she had two more set points with a 6-4 lead, yet Walkow somehow won the last four points of the set to secure the victory.

Walkow, last year’s Sunset League JV singles champion who has been playing singles for Newport Harbor this year but not starting, stepped up.

“[Down 6-4] I just thought I had to get it back in the court,” Walkow said after the match. “It really helped me out, my team cheering for me.”

With Walkow’s win, the Sailors took a 3-2 lead into the doubles portion later Saturday evening. They quickly put the match away.

Newport’s Kingsley and Blower earned a 6-2 win over Byrd and Condas at No. 1 doubles. And Cosenza and Burke, in their fourth year playing varsity doubles together, took a 6-1 win over Deckey and Connie Yu at No. 2 doubles.

Sage Hill won the last two completed doubles sets, with Stephanie Beder and Lauren Fishman beating Olivia Zehnder and Elle Zielinski, 6-4, and Marina Anderson and Hung topping Newport’s Taryn Anderson and Eva Newsom, 7-5.

“Sage came out today and they really did kill it,” Burke said. “It was good competition. They have a lot of good players this year.”

Indeed, Sage Coach A.G. Longoria took pride that his team beat Academy League rival St. Margaret’s, 9-0, including a 7-5 win at No. 1 singles by Gerschultz.

“I was pleased,” Longoria said. “We lost the tournament by one game. We had match points to win the tournament, retrospectively, but [Newport Harbor] is a good team and they play good doubles ... We found out what we wanted to find out.”