Back in the Fold

It looked as if Woodbridge High junior Susanna Lingman was going to be one of the county’s best players not playing high school tennis this year. But thanks to a strong lobbying effort by teammate Adriana Hockicko and Coach Ric Barth, Lingman is still one of top players in high school tennis.

Lingman, who decided two nights before her team’s opener that she was going to play, didn’t exactly have a smashing debut in Woodbridge’s tight loss (91-77 on games) to archrival Corona del Mar 10 days ago. She lost two of three singles sets, one of the losses coming in a tiebreaker to freshman Anne Yelsey.

But for someone who hadn’t played a match in nearly six months, Lingman wasn’t half bad.

Or was she?

“I played absolutely horrible,” said Lingman, a first-team Times all-county selection last year. “I just hadn’t played a match in forever and I didn’t have that match experience when things got tight.”

The worst part about coming back was knowing that her two losses cost the fifth-ranked Warriors their opener.

“It would have been nice to have an easier opener than Corona del Mar,” Lingman said, laughing. “I knew we needed those matches and I knew when I was warming up that I wasn’t quite on.”

The best part about being back was being with all her friends again.

“It’s a good atmosphere,” she said. “It’s already been fun.”

But Lingman admitted high school tennis didn’t sound like a lot of fun once she heard that Joan Willett, her coach the last two years, had retired.

“I felt really bad because I’m really close to Adriana and I knew it was her senior year,” Lingman said. “It just seemed like a lot of things were happening really fast. School was coming, I hadn’t played much and Coach Willett was leaving. I thought it would be better if I didn’t play.”

But then Barth made a last-minute plea.

“He said the team would be better if I played and that they really needed me,” Lingman said. “So I said OK.”

Although she hadn’t played a match since spring, Lingman had been practicing at the Costa Mesa Tennis Club with her private coach, Hank Lloyd. Lingman had also been working with Mark Kaplan, a former UC Irvine player and touring pro, but Kaplan moved to Connecticut in August.

Lingman has been working with Lloyd on “filling in some holes and trying to be more consistent.” But she also worked on her tan in Hawaii and did some sightseeing in Seattle.

Last Sunday, she returned to the junior tennis circuit at the Cerritos Fall Junior tournament. While she was warming up, Lingman felt a pull in her upper arm. She played through the pain and won her match easily.

But as she loosened up for her team’s match against University on Monday afternoon, the pain was back and it was more intense. The junior varsity had already left for University--leaving Woodbridge with just nine players. So Lingman played hurt--winning three doubles sets with Heather Hustedt in the Warriors’ 13-5 victory.

After icing and resting her arm during the week, Lingman said she has improved and is expecting to play today in the Cerritos tournament. Woodbridge (1-1) will need a healthy Lingman this week as it hosts sixth-ranked Dana Hills on Monday and travels to fourth-ranked Mater Dei on Thursday.

“These matches will be good for me,” Lingman said. “I need to start playing more matches and building my confidence.”

Though Lingman is only 15, she is already thinking about college. If she wants to be seen by any college coaches this fall, she will have to qualify for the girls’ 18 National Indoors in November. But since she hasn’t played enough tournaments, Lingman must play an indoor qualifying tournament next weekend at Los Caballeros Racquet Club.