For Corona del Mar freshman Danielle Wilson, Tuesday’s nonleague match against No. 7 Tesoro was only her second varsity appearance.
While Sea Kings girls tennis coach Brian Ricker wasn’t going to tell her ahead of time, he knew it was Wilson who figured to be the deciding factor in a nonleague battle between two of the county’s top-10 teams.
With second-ranked Corona del Mar sweeping the doubles action, it was Wilson’s two crucial points on the singles side that proved to be the difference in the Sea Kings’ 11-7 victory over the host Titans on Tuesday afternoon.
“It feels pretty good,” Wilson said after the match. “I like getting to play on a team. Usually in USTA (U.S. Tennis Association) tournaments you’re out there by yourself. Having the team support definitely helped.”
After CdM quickly swept the first round of doubles sets, Justine Huang and Kaitlyn Nguyen notched Tesoro’s first two points of the match with victories in singles play.
With the score settled at 3-2, it looked as if the Titans would tie things up as Layla Rodriguez held a 4-1 advantage over Wilson in the last set of the first round.
The Sea Kings freshman responded by winning the next five games, taking the set, 6-4, and putting the Sea Kings ahead, 4-2, after the first round.
“She played great,” said Ricker. “She’s a freshman, so you wonder what the nerves are like. But she responded in her first real big high school match.”
The Sea Kings maintained its edge, 7-5, after the second round, with CdM taking all three doubles sets and Tesoro claiming the singles points.
Another 3-0 doubles showing in the third round put the Sea Kings over the top, securing the decisive 10th point as well as the team’s second nonleague victory of the season.
Wilson capped her day with a 7-6 (7-4) win over Huang.
“She came to play,” Tesoro coach Tim DiLeo said of Wilson. “It’s hard enough to beat Layla and Justine as it is. Doing it on the same day is pretty impressive.”
