By Michael Wojtychiw

Bella Mendez has had quite the tenure in her three short years as a member of Whitney Young’s girls tennis squad.

The junior burst onto the scene two years ago, combining with Cyan Crayton to not only win the #1 doubles city title, but also win the sectional title in a year that was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing the state finals to be canceled. She followed that up with a repeat championship at #1 doubles last year with Jayna Dunwoody, before moving over to singles for the state tournament and qualifying out of sectionals and going 2-2 at the state tournament. 

Now in her third season on the varsity level, Mendez, fully entrenched as the Dolphins’ #1 singles player, had a mission when she took on the city at this year’s city tournament this past Monday at Riis Park: win her third straight city title.

She did so and did it with relative ease, defeating Northside’s Rosalie Schneider 6-0, 6-0, Lane Tech’s Mary Rau 6-0, 6-1 and Lincoln Park’s upstart freshman Jia Champlin 6-0, 6-1.

“I really believed in my ability today,” Mendez said. “I’ve been doing the same thing, the same training, so I feel very comfortable with myself and know what I need to do to be successful and it’s all about self-belief out on the court.

“I feel like my background in tennis and the amount of time put into it has really helped me be successful these past couple years. I look at my high school season as stepping stones, I have city champs, sectionals and state. Each one I try to do the best I can.”

For many players, switching from doubles to singles can be tricky, especially after playing with a partner for an entire season.

For Mendez, however, the transition wasn’t as hard as it may have been for others.

“For the past six years I’ve been playing singles nationally, so going back to singles, which I play every day in training and in tournaments, it’s a pretty easy transition,” she said. 

After not getting a chance to play at the state meet her freshman year, Mendez relished the opportunity to play last season and brought back a lot of knowledge and experience that she could share with her teammates who may not have been as fortunate to make it to the state’s final weekend.

“To get back to state, it’s all about mentality,” she said. “Last year I got a feel for state and with that experience I know there will be many girls at my level or higher, so I’ll definitely need to be on my A game mentally. 

“Anyone can take state, honestly. Everyone can hit a backhand, everyone can hit a forehand, everyone has a coach and training experience, it’s all about mentality. Leading up to state, I’ll just have to be ready mentally.”

Payton’s Maya Jha is in a similar situation to Mendez, but in reverse.

Jha, who played as a singles player last season, is playing as part of the Grizzlies’ #1 doubles team with Corina Vinarov this season. Jha took fourth at the state tournament last season, finishing an impressive junior campaign that saw her improve as the year went on.

Payton’s doubles title helped lead the Grizzlies to the city championship Monday with 17 team points, edging out Young, who also finished with 17 points, on a tiebreaker. Coincidentally, Jha and Vinarov’s semifinal win over Young’s Aria Fifer and Celena Ho was what broke the tie.

“It’s so exciting, especially as a senior, having us winning the city championship is just an amazing feeling,” Jha said. “Our coach was always there for us if we were down on ourselves and same with each other. We’d always communicate to make sure we’d be on top of things and not let anything get to us.”

Coming in as the top seed, the Grizzlies duo felt some pressure, especially in their semifinal match.

It was, however, not enough to slow them down from winning the title.

“I think we did feel the pressure,” Jha said. “Our second match especially was a really weird match because we won the first set 6-1 and then lost the second set 1-6, which was really weird.

“I think that’s when we were really feeling the stress. We just had to treat the last set as a fresh start because in the tiebreak, everyone’s 0-0, so we had to rewind and realize we had an equal chance of winning as they did.”

The title broke the Dolphins’ streak of three consecutive city titles and is the first for the Grizzlies since 2018.

For coach Jean Casserly, it was nice to see her squad on top again.

“It’s very exciting for us because we have perennially finished second to Whitney (Young), so to come out on top and have it have been so close, is extra special,” she said. “It’s also extra special because for the kids, every point we earned counted. So no one person walks out of here feeling like they didn’t contribute. Everyone contributed.

“The kids, they want to win for each other. It’s a team of seniors, with two juniors, and they just want this for each other. I think that’s what was most important to them because they know ‘if I win and they win, we’re doing it together.’”

In #2 singles, Young’s Leena Manadan took down Lane’s Alessia Olsen 6-0, 6-1, Payton’s #2 doubles team of Lilia Tanabe and Nina Shinall won the title over Lincoln Park’s Lila Wolf and Piper Greeby 6-3, 6-2 and Lane’s Bridget Bates and Christa Kulanda brought home the #3 doubles crown with a win over Jones’ Keeley Chiu and Olivia Dorfman 6-2, 7-6. 

Lane finished third with 15 points thanks to a tiebreaker over Lincoln Park, which also scored 15 team points.