CdM falls in regional semis
CLAREMONT — The Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team narrowly missed traveling to The Claremont Club last week to face Campbell Hall in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match, falling on games to Harvard-Westlake in the semifinals.
Campbell Hall won the Division 1 championship on that day. Seven days later, the Vikings got their chance to meet the Sea Kings in the CIF/USTA Southern California Regional championships.
As it turned out, Campbell Hall was as good as advertised.
The top-seeded Vikings beat Corona del Mar, 6-1, in a regional semifinal Friday at The Claremont Club to end CdM’s season. Campbell Hall will go for the title Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against No. 2-seeded Torrey Pines, which beat short-handed Harvard-Westlake, 7-0, in the other semifinal match.
Corona del Mar had a chance to battle Campbell Hall to the bitter end in the format of four singles matches and three doubles matches. At No. 4 singles, junior Emily Freyman extended Campbell Hall’s Summer Quinn to a third set under the lights before falling, 2-6, 7-5, 3-6.
“I think normally I would be stressed out,” Freyman said. “But since everyone was supporting, it wasn’t stressful. My team was there and this was our last match, so we were going to do what we can do. I think we had fun in the process.”
CdM, which defeated San Diego Westview, 5-2, in a first-round match earlier Friday, proved unable to compete with Campbell Hall in singles. At No. 1 singles, Campbell Hall’s Dominique Stone beat CdM’s Danielle Willson, 6-4, 6-2. It was even more lopsided at No. 2 singles, where the Vikings’ only senior starter, Theresa Papikian, topped CdM’s Jasie Dunk, 6-0, 6-2.
Campbell Hall also won at No. 3 singles, as Patria Aziz topped CdM’s Sina Schwenk-Mueller, 6-0, 6-1.
All three doubles matches were close, but the Vikings ended up on top in two of the three. Bella McKinney and Izzy Dajee earned CdM’s only set win at No. 3 doubles by beating Xio Movo and Samantha Zwillenger, 7-5, 6-1.
At No. 1 doubles, Campbell Hall’s Rachel Wagner and Aliya Allyn rallied from a 5-2 first-set deficit to beat CdM’s Roxy MacKenzie and Shaya Northrup, 7-5, 6-1. At No. 2 doubles, the Vikings’ Cadence Davis and Lisa Wagner beat CdM’s Camellia Edalat and Brooke Kenerson, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
Dunk, MacKenzie and Schwenk-Mueller won in singles for the Sea Kings in the first-round match against Westview. The doubles teams of Northrup and Dajee, as well as McKinney and Freyman, were also victorious.
CdM Coach Jamie Gresh said the camaraderie on the team was a big part of the success this year. He said team members are planning a team trip to Malibu in two weeks, after the end-of-the-year banquet.
“These girls became great friends and great teammates,” he said. “There were 15 of them, and they’ve already planned a trip to Malibu. They just told me; I had no idea … That’s so cool, and that’s part of what high school athletics is about. I couldn’t be more proud of them as a team, and the way they competed and played this year.”
The season will continue for CdM’s Dunk and Willson in singles, as well as the doubles team of Kenerson and Edalat. They will return to The Claremont Club on Monday for the initial rounds of the CIF Southern Section Individuals tournament.
