<\/p>\n
Newport Harbor singles player Kendall McGuire, runs down a forehand volley against Corona del Mar on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
(Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
CdM seniors Emilie Lew and Polina Briggs, as well as sophomore Julia Cross, all earned singles sweeps and combined to win 54 of 58 games they played.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were super-confident coming in, as a team,\u201d Emilie Lew said. \u201cWe think we have good chemistry as a team this year, because many of our girls are tournament players. We prepared well this whole entire week for this match. We know it\u2019s Battle of the Bay, so it\u2019s one of the bigger matches this year and it brings more of an audience. We were just excited to have high energy on the court today and dominate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doubles play featured more close sets, but CdM (4-0) still came out on top in all of them. Freshmen Addie DiNicola and Sienna Lynn won twice at No. 1 doubles, as did seniors Sasha Briggs and Isabel Roytman at No. 2 doubles, as well as sophomore Madi Jackson and freshman Brynn Patterson on the No. 3 line.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Corona Del Mar doubles player Maggie Kirkowski runs down a deep ball as she plays in Battle of the Bay girls\u2019 tennis match at Newport Harbor on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
(Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Substitutes came through in doubles in the last round for the Sea Kings, with Maggie Kirkowski and Michelle Nguyen, as well as Gigi French and Eliza Jensen, also securing wins.<\/p>\n
Overall, CdM has four senior starters, three freshmen and two sophomores. It\u2019s a solid mix of experience and youth after last year\u2019s team, which advanced to the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals<\/a> before losing to top-seeded eventual champion Palos Verdes<\/a>, graduated just one senior starter in Eden Clark.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a very good team vibe right now,\u201d CdM coach Jamie Gresh said. \u201cThe girls are looking forward to every match. Based on making the semis last year, I think they\u2019re trying to make semis again this year and see if they can do one better and make the final.\u201d<\/p>\n Newport Harbor doubles players Lyla Henderson and Lily Roman, from left, from celebrate a point against CdM on Tuesday. <\/p>\n (Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n Newport Harbor (1-5) is led by a first-year coach who prepped on the other side of the bay. CdM graduate Cameron Ball, class of 2001, is now in charge and assisted by his father, Syd, a former pro from Australia who won seven career doubles titles in the professional tour.<\/p>\n Carsten Ball, Cameron\u2019s younger brother and another former CdM tennis standout who was once ranked No. 108 in the world, is coaching the Sailors\u2019 junior varsity team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came out looking at it as a learning opportunity today, looking at it as something to grow from,\u201d Cameron Ball said of Tuesday\u2019s match. \u201cI told the girls, we only lose if we didn\u2019t learn anything \u2026 You wouldn\u2019t get to play one of those girls regularly. They wouldn\u2019t come practice with you or any of that, from a level standpoint.<\/p>\n Corona del Mar\u2019s Guilia Fontana hits a serve against Newport Harbor on Tuesday.<\/p>\n (Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n \u201cTo get out there and see a better ball, that\u2019s a win for our girls. I\u2019m pumped for that. It doesn\u2019t matter, the win or loss. Getting to see something that you wouldn\u2019t normally see, that\u2019s a win.\u201d<\/p>\n Roman, a senior committed to Emerson College, got to switch it up from her normal No. 1 singles position and play in doubles. She\u2019s one of five senior starters for the Sailors, a list that also includes Kaylin Messinger, the doubles team of Lucy Perraud and Alex Welbourn and Mia Jarrett.<\/p>\n \u201cWe showed spirit the whole way, and that\u2019s the idea,\u201d Cameron Ball said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of all of the girls for that … All of the seniors have stepped up and taken turns, holding the baton with [their leadership].\u201d<\/p>\n CdM played at rival University on Wednesday in a nonleague match, returning home to face Los Alamitos on Thursday in continued league action. Newport Harbor plays at Huntington Beach on Thursday.<\/p>\n Corona del Mar\u2019s Polina Briggs competes in the Battle of the Bay girls\u2019 tennis match against Newport Harbor on Tuesday.<\/p>\n (Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Corona del Mar High girls\u2019 tennis team opened Sunset League play at rival Newport Harbor on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-133730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n
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