Girls’ Tennis Preview: Barons aiming for top of Sunset League

Hanh Pham has won the Sunset League singles title in each of her previous three years playing tennis at Fountain Valley High.

As a senior, Pham would love to make that four titles in four years. But she’s also wanting to add a team title this year as well.

“It’s kind of sad knowing that it’s my last season with these girls,” Pham said. “I mean, we haven’t won league in the past three years I’ve been on the team. It’s just another motivation for me to try and get the team together and win league, before I leave.”

The drought is actually much longer than just three years; Fountain Valley has not won a league title in girls’ tennis since 1991.

Last year the Barons came close, taking an 8-0 record into the final two matches. But 11-7 road losses at Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos ended up giving the Griffins the title, with a 9-1 mark in league. Fountain Valley finished second at 8-2, followed by Newport Harbor at 7-3.

“We kind of choked,” Pham said. “A lot of pressure. We’re not really used to the pressure, because we’ve never been so close to winning.”

The Barons lost talent from that team, including league doubles champions Katie Ho and Clarissa Htay, to graduation. But senior Vikki Nguyen is ready to step up after moving into the singles lineup. Fountain Valley coach Harshul Patel said he also has a talented freshmen class coming in, including Jasmine Nguyen and Kaylee Tran.

The Barons made the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last year, losing to Corona del Mar. This year, though, Fountain Valley has dropped to Division 2 and appears to be a contender there.

Patel knows that Pham gives his team a shot in the Sunset League, which should be tough as always.

“Los Al lost quite a bit,” Patel said. “Newport will be a tough task, as always. We’ll see who shows up, mentally and physically, that day.”

Fountain Valley opens the season Tuesday with a home match against Mater Dei.

Newport Harbor, meanwhile, has a young team. There are two seniors in the lineup, Nicole Knickerbocker and Rachel Davis.

Davis started last year in singles but could play doubles this year, coach Kristen Case said. That highlights a strength of the team, its versatility.

“At times, we’ve been in situations where we’ve had a pretty stable lineup and it hasn’t changed much,” Case said. “This year, I really think we’re going to do different things on different days. We have a very adaptable team, which is great. There’s a lot of girls who can play both singles and doubles, and are confident in both arenas.”

There are eight sophomores on the Sailors’ roster, including last year’s doubles standouts Amra Barton and Lauren Lipkowski. Other rapidly improving sophomores include last year’s league JV singles champion and runner-up, Sterling Solomon and Lane McArdell.

Corona del Mar has made the Division 1 semifinals each of the last four years, but is looking to take it one match further this year. Coach Jamie Gresh said that the Sea Kings have six returning starters, including last year’s Daily Pilot Player of the Year, senior Danielle Willson.

Roxy MacKenzie, Brooke Kenerson, Shaya Northrup, Bella McKinney and Emily Freyman are the other returning starters. The team also has two key senior transfers: Annika Bassey is a four-star player from Ojai and Pauline Loredo is a three-star player from Texas.

“There will be a lot of depth on the team,” Gresh said. “I want these girls to support each other and have a good chemistry. That’s key. When you have a lot of talent, it comes down to chemistry and having selfless teammates.”

CdM was the only team to beat Sage Hill last year in the regular season, but the Lightning return much off their Academy League championship team from a year ago.

Senior Nicole Condas and junior Michelle Hung, last year’s league doubles finalists and Dream Team selections, lead the way. Second-year coach Cierra Gaytan said that junior Morgan Mann has improved a lot, and senior Maya Byrd will play singles.

“I think they’re really excited,” said Gaytan, whose team opens the season Tuesday with a home match against Santa Margarita. “I worked with a lot of the girls in the offseason … and they’ve all been pumped. It was cool for me as a coach to see them miss [the season] after it was done.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo