First-year Pacifica Christian Orange County girls’ tennis coach Jennifer Jolin, pursuing her master’s degree in counseling at Concordia University, has been having the girls on her team journal before or after practices or matches.
“I think that’s helping them connect,” said Jolin, 24, who also played tennis at Concordia and earned her undergraduate degree there in 2023.
“We sit down and talk about what we’re feeling and what’s going on in the matches. In tennis, especially in singles, you can be all alone out there. To know that everyone’s feeling a certain way or having different stressors of school has been really good on the court, just knowing that they’re not alone in what they’re feeling.”
Her players could feel pride after Thursday’s match, even if the final result didn’t quite go their way.
The doubles team of Ava and Ali Hudy of Pacifica Christian celebrate a point during Thursday’s match.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Pacifica Christian lost to visiting Fairmont Prep, 9-9 and 72-70 on games, in a San Joaquin League finale at Orange Coast College.
Both the Tritons and Huskies finished 9-1 in league and shared the league title. Pacifica Christian had beaten Fairmont Prep, 71-67 on games, in the teams’ first league meeting on Oct. 2.
It’s the third league title in four years for Pacifica Christian.
“I’m proud of us,” senior singles player London Willhoit said. “We were scared about this season, because we lost a lot of seniors and we got new coaches. I love coach Jen so much, but we were just scared about a completely new environment.”
Doubles player Charlie Rogers of Pacifica Christian hits a backhand against Fairmont Prep on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
The Tritons stepped up to the challenge, making Thursday’s match a contrast between Fairmont’s strong singles players and Pacifica Christian’s strong doubles teams.
The Pacifica Christian doubles teams of Charlie Rogers and Bea Jeremias, fraternal twins Ali and Ava Hudy, as well as Tess Prichard and Liana Fite, each won twice. In singles, the Tritons’ Kamryn Giunta, Willhoit and Helena Butcher each beat Fairmont Prep’s No. 3 player.
The match was tied 3-3 after the first round and 6-6 after the second round, when the total game score was also tied at 50-50.
Third round singles wins of 6-0 by Cameron Kang and 6-1 by Camille Coulon, both of whom swept for Fairmont Prep, helped the visitors secure just enough games. Sophia Patel and Melo Jing also swept in doubles for Fairmont, as they did in the teams’ first meeting.
Singles player London Willhoit of Pacifica Christian hits a shot against Fairmont Prep on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Willhoit won her third singles set 6-0 to finish out the match, but the math didn’t quite work out in the Tritons’ favor.
“Coming down to two games is so tough, obviously, but I’m proud of them no matter what,” Jolin said. “I’m happy that we got that league title. Pacifica is all about sharing, so we can share a league title.”
Pacifica Christian will participate in the league singles and doubles tournaments on Monday at Orange County Great Park. The Tritons are also headed to the postseason as a team; the CIF Southern Section will release the girls’ tennis playoff brackets on Nov. 1.
Doubles player Ali Hudy of Pacifica Christian runs down a forehand at the baseline against Fairmont Prep on Thursday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
In 2022, Pacifica Christian advanced to the Division 4 title match before losing 13-5 to Alhambra Mark Keppel. Giunta, Willhoit and Rogers, all freshmen at the time, are the three remaining starters from that squad and would certainly appreciate another deep run as seniors.
“I feel like we’re definitely doing a lot better compared to last year,” Willhoit said, citing the team’s camaraderie.
The journaling can’t hurt, either.