CHS Girls Tennis Captures First League Match Versus Mira Mesa

The Division 2 Coronado High School Girls Tennis Team began league play on Tuesday at home with a tightly contested 10-8 win versus Mira Mesa High. All twelve available players played. The win is especially impressive given that the team is starting anew this year.

Only three players are returning from last year’s varsity squad, and two of them are injured and unlikely to be able to play at all this season. That leaves just one returning varsity player, Grace Elardo, available for on-court matches. Most teams would call this year a “rebuilding” year, but the coaches and players are confident about their chances for a winning season.

What many on the team lack in tennis-playing experience, they make up for with athleticism, commitment, and teamwork. “I’ve never had a group that is so positive,” said coach Dennis Navarro.

“We have a solid team,” said Carlotta Peralta, one of the two injured players. “They want to be here. They want to support each other. We have a chance to be really competitive this year.”

Because the team needed players, the three varsity returners and previous junior varsity players worked hard to recruit athletes who may have only rarely picked up a racket but who had a strong work ethic, commitment to learning, and success in another sport.

As a result of their recruiting efforts, the team includes eight lacrosse players and one softball player. Both lacrosse and softball are complementary sports to tennis. To be successful, the three sports require exceptional eye-hand coordination, the ability to anticipate where a ball or player is headed, and speed. Relatively new tennis players who are already successful lacrosse and softball players have a leg up on others who are learning the sport because they already have many of the crossover skills that are required for tennis. Their backgrounds bode well for player improvement over the season as well.

“They all have killer instinct from other sports, want to improve and are such a pleasure to coach,” said Beth Elardo, a volunteer assistant coach.

Match Versus Mira Mesa

Grace Elardo won all three of her singles matches, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, and the doubles team of Lilah Cade and Logan Shapiro also finished strong by winning their three matches, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Samantha Aldworth and Brynn Belong won two sets in convincing fashion, 6-2, 6-0, while Josephine Zwierzynski won sets in doubles with different partners: Casilda Sanchez and Daniela Osio, 6-4, 6-4.

The young team of three seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores, and two freshmen is led by four team captains: senior Carlotta Peralta, juniors Maria Anaya and Grace Elardo, and sophomore Lilah Cade.

Rounding out the players on the team are Rio Kramer, Ella Petersen, Ines Gil, Abbie McKissick, and Alyssa McWilliams.

September Schedule

*Matches begin at 4:00 pm except for 3:30 pm start at Granite Hills

Format for High School Tennis

High school tennis matches consist of 18 sets of no-ad scoring: 9 sets of singles and 9 sets of doubles. Three singles players on each team play each of the three singles players on the other team. Similarly, the three doubles teams play each of the opponent’s doubles teams.

Using this approach of having every singles player compete against the opponent’s three singles players (and having every doubles pair compete against the opponent’s three doubles pairs) prevents teams from using a strategy called “stacking,” where one team puts a lower-ranked player in the number one position in order to save stronger players for the remaining positions, thereby increasing the likelihood of winning at those remaining positions. Because every player plays all the other players, stacking isn’t possible.