CdM’s Willson caps high school career with CIF Individuals championship
Reporting from Seal Beach — Corona del Mar High senior Danielle Willson said she is playing the best tennis of her life.
Over three days at two sites, she dominated opponents in the CIF Southern Section Individuals singles tournament.
The result was the championship, something a player from CdM girls’ tennis had not won since Willson’s life was just beginning.
Willson is the CIF Individuals champion after beating San Clemente senior Lindsay Hung 6-1, 6-3 in the title match Thursday afternoon at Seal Beach Tennis Center. She’s just the third CdM player to win the section’s top individual honor, the first since Brittany Reitz in 2000. CdM’s Keri Phebus was a back-to-back CIF Individuals singles champion in 1988 and ‘89.
Willson dominated opponents in the tournament, not losing a set in six total matches. In a season in which Willson and her teammates won Pacific Coast League, CIF Southern Section Division 1 and CIF USTA Southern California Regional titles in the team format, it seemed fitting that the USC-bound Willson would finish on top individually.
“This exceeds my goals, I would say,” Willson said. “[My goal was] just to improve from last year, but this is pretty amazing for me. I’m super excited. I still have butterflies in my stomach. I’m so excited right now.”
CdM coach Jamie Gresh said the No. 4-seeded Willson played a “very flawless” final match against Hung, the No. 3 seed. The win also allowed her to avenge one of her four losses during the season, as she fell to Hung 6-3 in a nonleague match on Sept. 20.
To play her last high school match on this court and go out as a champion, it’s something she’ll never forget.
— Corona del Mar coach Jamie Gresh
Hung, the South Coast League singles champion who was undefeated until Thursday’s final, finished the season with a 67-1 singles record. Willson, the Pacific Coast League singles champion, finished at 59-4.
“It’s the final piece to the puzzle,” Gresh said. “To play her last high school match on this court and go out as a champion, it’s something she’ll never forget. As a coach, this doesn’t happen that often, so it’s a special moment. She’s really played her best tennis when her best has been needed, and that was evident today.”
Willson advanced to the final with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 1 Casie Wooten, from Palos Verdes Peninsula Chadwick, on Thursday. She broke Wooten’s serve five times in the semifinal match.
“She served to my forehand the whole time, which was to my advantage,” Willson said. “That’s what I wanted. That’s what I thought was going to win points, so I could angle the ball around her. She was a good retriever behind the baseline, just not moving diagonally.”
When she got to the final, Willson remained all business. She earned an early break of serve to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. Her serve was broken back, but she responded by winning four straight games.
Willson also took a 4-1 lead in the second set and cruised to the win, breaking Hung’s serve again as she tried to stay in the match at 3-5.
Keeping the ball to Hung’s backhand was a strategy Willson was able to employ successfully.
“Every ball was hit to her backhand, or that was my plan,” Willson said. “She loves to move around her backhand and hit an inside-out forehand, so I wanted to make her beat me with an inside-in forehand or a backhand down the line, which is really hard to hit.”
Hung was complimentary after the match, saying that Willson had the best serve that she had faced all season.
“I think Danielle was just really strong,” said Hung, who has signed with the University of Utah. “She just maybe wanted it a little bit more, and I think I had more nerves. She just played really good. She deserved it today. She got a lot of free points off that serve, gets ahead in the points with that serve.”
After Hung’s forehand floated long on match point, Willson stayed somewhat subdued. But soon she would be celebrating with her CdM teammates. Four of them — senior Brooke Kenerson, juniors Shaya Northrup and Dylan Matesky, and freshman Reece Kenerson — came to watch the final.
Willson thrived in that team environment during her time at CdM, but earning this individual honor also meant a lot.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Willson said. “I’m really excited for what I did. Just finishing it off my senior year is so amazing. It’s really hard to do that. To finish it off like that is more than I expected, and obviously Corona del Mar taking every title [this season] is pretty amazing too.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
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