CdM is ‘two’ much

CORONA DEL MAR — As the Battle of the Bay progressed on the girls’ tennis courts for the first time in six years, “the robot” took it all in.

Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis coach Brian Ricker said that’s the name her teammates have given to freshman phenom Katelyn Nguyen, who won two singles sets in Wednesday’s 13-5 home victory over Back Bay rival Newport Harbor.

Nguyen insisted it was Ricker who gave her the nickname, but it wasn’t hard to see why against the Sailors.

“She’s so tough and focused on the court,” Ricker said. “She’s not intimidated by anybody.”

Neither were the Sea Kings, who took it to their rivals early to put the match out of reach. CdM’s six seniors — Karen Ishii, Lindsay Zotovich, Danielle Kaiden, Rebecca Beyer, Paige Polizois and Auriel O’Neil — were eager to impress in their first Battle of the Bay encounter.

Their reaction wasn’t quite as robotic.

“I was really excited to play the match today,” said Zotovich, who easily swept three doubles sets with Kaiden. “I came out wanting to win really badly, because Battle of the Bay is a big deal at CdM.”

It is at Newport Harbor, too, and the Sailors (3-3) held their own in singles, winning five of nine sets. Sophomore Rebecca Arnold won twice. So did senior Liz Cramer, including a 7-6 (2) victory over Karoline Wang in the last set of the day to finish.

“Our singles has really improved over the last couple of weeks,” said Coach Kristen Case, who also received a singles win from junior Cynthia Waterman. “They’re fighters. They don’t give up, they’re steady, and they’ve really impressed me with their improvement mentally and physically on the court.”

But the Sea Kings (2-0) were too strong in doubles, where they swept nine sets. Ricker said that his doubles teams have combined to go 30-0 so far this season, which also includes last weekend’s second-place finish at the California High School Tennis Classic in Fresno.

On Wednesday, Ishii and Kelli Feeley easily swept at No. 1 doubles for the Sea Kings, who have reached the CIF Southern Section Division I championship match two years running and won it in 2006. Beyer and Azadeh Nazemi also swept, including a tough 7-5 victory over the Sailors’ No. 1 duo. Besides that set, no other doubles set was closer than 6-2. In two matches this week, Zotovich and Kaiden, who also played together in their freshman year, have won 36 of 39 games.

“I’m really pleased with how they’re playing,” Ricker said. “It seems like when they get together they have a few more lobs, and they’re both so good at that. They’re both so tall and effective at the net, so it’s a matchup that’s really working out for us.”

Both coaches also said that they hope the Battle of the Bay is something that will also work out in the future.

“It’s good to get it started again,” said Case, who played at Newport Harbor before graduating in 2000 and has also been a frosh-soph coach at CdM. “It’s so much fun, especially for the girls to just get out and hit against each other. We all live in the same neighborhood, and even if they could practice together outside of [high school tennis], just to promote practicing and playing the game would be great. They all live so close to each other, and I think half of them don’t even know each other. If anything, at least they could find some more practice partners, and I think that’s awesome.

“Obviously, [CdM is] a very gifted and talented team, but they’re also a very nice team. It’s almost not even like a rivalry, because it’s fun to play them and it’s good tennis. There’s not much drama involved, which is nice for both sides.”

Ricker agreed, saying he knows the Sea Kings may not always have the edge in the future. He added that before playing Newport Harbor, his team was the most excited he’s ever seen it before a match.

“It’s fun for the kids,” he said. “We brought some posters out, the [CdM] boys’ team showed up. There was a lot more enthusiasm than normal ... I think the rivalry should always go on. They almost always win football, but I think every team should play.”

Nonleague

Corona del Mar 13,

Newport Harbor 5

Singles – K. Nguyen (CdM) def. Waterman, 6-0, (sub) O’Neil (CdM) lost to Arnold, 2-6, Nguyen def. Cramer, 6-1; Polizois (CdM) won, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), (sub) Wang (CdM) lost, 6-7 (2-7); (sub) Murray (CdM) lost, 3-6, E. Nguyen (CdM) lost, 4-6, 2-6.

Doubles – Ishii-Feeley (CdM) def. Small-Frei, 6-2, def. (sub) Conway-Bakkila (NH), 6-1, def. Aiello-Mathies, 6-0; Zotovich-Kaiden (CdM) won, 6-1, def. Strutner-Beck (NH), 6-0, won, 6-0; Beyer-Nazemi won, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2.