CLAREMONT — Thanksgiving week competition is not typical in high school team tennis.
But the Corona del Mar High girls’ tennis team is having a season that the players, parents and coaches alike can certainly feel thankful for.
The Sea Kings keep winning, and now find themselves one victory away from the program’s first state championship.
Corona del Mar beat Portola, 5-2, to win the CIF-USTA Southern California Regional title on Saturday afternoon at the Claremont Club.
CdM (24-0) will play Northern California champion Los Altos, from the Silicon Valley, for the state championship on Saturday at 10 a.m. at Fresno State.
“It’s really, really exciting because we’ve never really gone that far,” CdM senior singles player Polina Briggs said. “Toward the beginning of the year, I knew our team was going to be good, but I didn’t really expect us to go this far and still be undefeated. It’s all just really exciting.”
The Sea Kings, who started four seniors and also four freshmen of the 10 players in Saturday’s regional final lineup, have a blend of experience and talented young players that works. Saturday’s match was a rematch of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title match also won by CdM, albeit in a different format.
The regional playoffs are played with four singles lines and three doubles lines, with athletes competing in a single best-of-three set.
CdM continued without rehabilitating coach Jamie Gresh, who was at home after having hip surgery on Nov. 18. Coach Tyler Gaede guided the team on the court, while communicating with Gresh throughout the match.
“Coach Tyler is an extremely valuable asset to the CdM program,” Gresh said in a text message. “He provides excellent feedback and strategy to the players and is calm under pressure conditions.”
The team also has performed under pressure. Polina Briggs, who swept in the Division 1 title match, continued her strong play. She won the clinching fourth set in the regionals at No. 2 singles, topping Jiah Lee of Portola, 6-1, 6-2.
Her twin sister Sasha and senior partner Isabel Roytman then rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Portola’s Emily Roman and Payton Nguyen at No. 2 doubles.
CdM also earned a pair of easy victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Sophomore Julia Cross got past Annabel Wang, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3 singles, before freshman Addie DiNicola bested Ayla Alhassan, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 4 singles.
The Sea Kings’ other set win came at No. 3 doubles, where sophomore Madi Jackson and freshman Brynn Patterson topped Portola’s Sarah Sumida and Alycia Lee, as they had in the Division 1 final three days before. Saturday’s score was 6-1, 6-2.
“It feels really good,” Cross said. “We all worked together. Jamie switched the lineups around a little bit from our last [match]. We didn’t really know what we were going to play until the last minute, but I think Jamie’s taught us to be flexible. We adjusted well and just played lights out tennis.”
Portola (20-4) got a set win from Leanna Roman, who topped CdM senior Emilie Lew 6-2, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. The Bulldogs’ other victory came at No. 1 doubles, where Evelyn Wang and Sahana Chakravarthy beat CdM freshmen Sienna Lynn and Olivia Lew, 6-4, 6-2.
But the Sea Kings’ depth won out, as they claimed their second CIF regional title, joining the 2017 squad.
“I thought our doubles played really, really well,” Gaede said. “That’s been a key asset to us all year, to have good doubles players up and down the lineup, and it really showed today. It makes us really confident going into state, that you have girls you can rely on up and down the roster.”
This is just the third year that the CIF has had a state championship in girls’ tennis. There are more than 1,600 high schools in California, and Corona del Mar and Los Altos are the final two remaining.
“We’ve worked really hard during practice,” Polina Briggs said. “Our coach even said he was going to push us a lot during practice this year. I feel like we’ve grown so much as a team, and it would mean a lot if we just keep pushing and grinding and hopefully we win the last match. That would be huge.”