Coast Union girls fall to Morro Bay in tennis debut
The Coast Union varsity girls tennis team lost its opening home match to Morro Bay High School 14-4 on Monday, Aug. 29.
Top seed Michelle Campos defeated Morro Bay’s No. 1 player 6-3, lost to the Pirates’ No. 2 seed 3-6, then defeated Morro Bay’s No. 3 player 6-2 in her third set.
In doubles, the team of Ani Corbett and Alyssa Drew lost their first two sets 3-6, 3-6, but won their third set 6-4. The team of Savannah Lyons and Lindy Ortiz lost 4-6, 4-6, but turned around and won their third set 6-4.
For a few moments before the outset of this match, head coach Tom Coxwell found himself emotionally linked to both teams. After all, he had coached the Morro Bay junior varsity team for four years before being hired to coach boys and girls tennis at Coast in the spring.
Those JV players, now members of the Morro Bay varsity, were his team’s opponents at Coast Union on Monday. Coxwell even started to offer coaching tips to a Morro Bay player during warmups before catching himself and chuckling at his brief flashback to his previous coaching chores.
Overall, we need to be more aggressive. When we have an opportunity to put the point away, we need to do it.
Tom Coxwell
Coast Union tennis coachIn a phone interview following the match, Coxwell called his Coast Union team of 10 players “a wonderful group of girls — a fabulous group of girls.”
“We were in every match, although there are plenty of things we need to work on,” he said. “Overall, we need to be more aggressive. When we have an opportunity to put the point away, we need to do it.”
But, he added, “It was a good start for our team. We can build on it some more.”
Mission Prep 14, Coast Union 4
On Tuesday, Aug. 30, Coxwell’s team played a second straight home match, entertaining the Mission College Prep Royals; Coast lost 14-4. The Lady Broncos’ singles players were swept by the Royals, but the doubles team of Corbett and Drew won two sets, 6-1, 6-2.
The Coast Union doubles team of Ortiz and Lyons also won two sets against the Royals, 6-3, 6-3. Coxwell announced that his No. 2 singles seed at this point in the season is Annika Marthaler, and the No. 3 singles seed is Zoe Markham.
The tennis team travels to San Luis Obispo on Thursday, Sept. 1, to play the Mission Prep Royals for the second time in a week.
Email freelance journalist John FitzRandolph at johnfitz44@gmail.com.
This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Coast Union girls fall to Morro Bay in tennis debut."