Sedona Red Rock High School has already accomplished, with its girls tennis team, more than it did all of last spring — win.
The Scorpions overcame losses in singles and doubles competition to freshman Neha Alety, the 27th-ranked player in the state, to defeat Rancho Solano Preparatory Academy, 7-2, Wednesday, March 19, in Gilbert. SRRHS is now 2-0 after a 2013 season in which the girls tennis team could not achieve victory.
“We had a long haul, going winless last season,” head coach Carla Heckrodt said. “So, starting out like we have this season is really promising.”
Junior Keely Miller and senior Laura Clark also picked up 6-2, 6-0 singles wins over Mustangs sophomores Matilda Kapidani and Bergen Harmes, respectively.
“She’s really solid at the No. 5 position,” Heckrodt said of Clark. “We want to give some other kids experience, and we’ll be looking at switching around the No. 6 spot as some of the other kids understand their game and skills a little more solidly.”
Assistant coach Phil Kovacs was more blunt.
“Laura, when she first came on the team, couldn’t hit a tennis ball with a racket,” Kovacs said. “But Laura’s determined to win. Her determination and focus to play the game is 100 percent.”
Miller, Kovacs added, at least as far as “court smarts” are concerned, “is probably the smartest on the team. Keely is striking better.”
Lastly, senior Sarah Grover overcame an 8-2 doubles loss with her partner — junior No. 1 Paulina Lasia — to Alety and Kapidani to defeat Rancho Solano sophomore Enida Kapidani, 6-4, 7-5. Junior Yvesche Schlee and sophomore Sarah Hermosillo won their singles matches by forfeit and also collected 8-3 and 8-0 doubles victories with their respective partners, Miller and Hermosillo’s twin sister, Sophia.
“Yvesche’s got some good ground strokes,” Kovacs said. “We have four players who play a pretty decent game of tennis. While the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds on other teams haven’t been as strong, it’s going to get a little tougher. We’re going to run into some prep schools down the road who have tougher players at those positions.”
For the full story, please see the Friday, March 21, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
