Corona del Mar girls’ tennis rises to challenge, beats Portola for CIF title
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REDLANDS — Pressure makes diamonds.
In the case of the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team, it has produced a CIF Southern Section championship plaque.
The Sea Kings were pushed by Portola throughout Wednesday night’s Division 1 title match at the University of Redlands, but they came up with some big set wins down the stretch to earn a 10-8 victory.
CdM players jumped around with the plaque gleefully and communicated via FaceTime with coach Jamie Gresh, who was unable to attend after undergoing hip surgery the day before.
It’s Corona del Mar’s 11th section title, the first since 2019 and the first in the top division since the heralded 2017 squad.
“I always had a really good feeling about this year,” senior doubles player Isabel Roytman said. “I knew the roster and I had a really good feeling. You can look at our undefeated [record] going through this whole season and think we are just gliding through it, but I think we really fought and tried our best every single day.”
No. 2-seeded Portola (17-3), which had lost to the Sea Kings 11-7 in a nonleague match earlier in the season, proved a worthy opponent. Wednesday night’s final was tied 3-3 after the first round and 6-6 after two rounds, albeit with the Sea Kings holding a small games advantage each time.
The undefeated season still continues for top-seeded Corona del Mar (21-0). Teammates mobbed senior No. 1 singles player Polina Briggs after she won the final set of the match, topping Portola’s Jiah Lee by a 7-5 verdict.
Corona del Mar had enough games to win the match, even if Briggs had lost to result in a 9-9 set score.
“[Portola] really came, showed up and played aggressive, played hungry,” CdM assistant coach Tyler Gaede said. “I think in the third round we matched their level and edged them out just by a little bit. I think the energy these girls brought in the third round was key to really pulling it out.”
Briggs swept at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 7-5, 6-0, while senior Emilie Lew and sophomore Julia Cross each won twice in singles for the Sea Kings.
Both Lew and Cross came up big in the second round to help Sunset League champion CdM stay competitive against Portola, the Pacific Coast League champion. Cross came back to beat Lee, 6-4.
Then Lew, who was battling illness, rallied herself for a 7-6 (7-5) win over Portola No. 1 player Leanna Roman, the Bulldogs’ only senior starter and a four-time league champion.
“I knew my team was relying on me,” Lew said. “Coach Tyler came over to my court and provided some great encouragement for me. He told me to take deep breaths … I just had to think about strategy and placement of the ball, rather than focusing on how sick I am or how bad I’m playing.”
Lew’s victory pulled the match even at 6-6. The Sea Kings took relative control from there.
After Lew earned a quick win over Portola’s No. 3 singles player, CdM’s No. 3 doubles team of sophomore Madi Jackson and freshman Brynn Patterson beat Portola’s Alycia Lee and Sarah Sumida — who had won their first two sets — by a 6-2 score.
Jackson and Patterson kept the energy high throughout that final set, which gave CdM its eighth set.
“We knew that the third round would win us the title or not,” Jackson said. “For me, I just thought the more energy the better. At the beginning of the season, when we played against [Palos Verdes], we had so much energy. When we’re screaming ‘Come on’ and pumping each other up, I play 10 times better.”
Gaede agreed that the energy was key.
“Other girls see that, other girls hear them cheering and start to get lifted by them,” he said. “After our second round meeting, the girls were fired up and ready to go. All of the girls were depending on each other for energy and momentum, and I thought that’s what really brought us across the finish line.”
Roytman and her teammate at No. 1 doubles Sasha Briggs, who had lost close sets in the first two rounds, provided what ended up being the clinching ninth set victory with a big 6-4 win over Portola’s Payton Nguyen and Emily Roman.
“I think it was hard to not have a negative mindset, especially going into the third round and hearing that we were going to play their best team,” Roytman said. “We had even more pressure on us. We were both pretty down, but we weren’t going to give up.”
Portola’s doubles teams of Alycia Lee and Sumida, Nguyen and Emily Roman, as well as Evelyn Wang and Sahana Chakravarthy, each won twice. But CdM’s two doubles sets in the final round still loomed large.
Portola coach Natasha Schottland, who has built up the program at the relatively new school over the last decade, complimented the Sea Kings after the match.
“You guys played lights out tennis tonight,” she said, addressing the CdM players. “It’s such a great feeling to have two highly competitive teams play it out. Coach Gresh and I are really good friends, and I know that this win means a lot for him. I’m happy for him, and happy for you guys as well.”
Both teams will play in the CIF Southern California Regionals, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Claremont Club. The winner of that tournament will play the Northern California champion in the state title match on Nov. 29 at Fresno State.
The Sea Kings are confident they can keep a good thing rolling.
“We just put our 100% into everything,” Polina Briggs said. “When it comes down to state, I have a lot of confidence in us as well.”
