Preview: New singles, doubles champs will be crowned in 2025 high school tennis season

by Don Norcross

2025 CIF San Diego Section Girls Tennis Preview

Regular season ends: Oct. 17

Championship finals

Team: Nov. 1 at Barnes Tennis Center

Singles and doubles: Nov. 8 at Balboa Tennis Club

Defending champions

Singles: Samantha Cheng, Mt. Carmel (now at UCLA)

Doubles: Ayanna Shah and Thea Sharma, Del Norte

Open Division: Canyon Crest Academy

Division 1: La Jolla Country Day

Division 2: La Jolla

Division 3: Clairemont

Overview

Come November, there will be new singles and doubles champions. Samantha Cheng ended her Mt. Carmel High School career in style, winning a second straight sectional singles title. Cheng is now a UCLA freshman playing club tennis. In doubles, Del Norte senior Ayanna Shah and freshman Thea Sharma won the section title. Sharma is expected to focus on singles and be a threat to become the section’s top player.

Canyon Crest Academy will be favored to win its fourth Open Division team title in five years.

Notable

Cheng became the seventh girl to repeat as the section’s singles champion. Only one player, La Jolla Country Day’s Alexandra Stevenson (1996-98), won three straight section singles crowns. In 1999, two weeks after graduating from La Jolla Country Day, Stevenson became only the second qualifier to advance to the Wimbledon semifinals, where she lost to eventual champion Lindsay Davenport. Stevenson would play singles in 14 majors.

Players to watch

(in alphabetical order)

Nupur Bhalla, Del Norte, Sr.

Jessica Chen, Canyon Crest Academy, Sr.

Aislyn Carolina Guptill, Mater Dei Catholic, Fr.

Annabelle Halabo, Canyon Crest Academy, Fr.

Alanis Huang, Cathedral Catholic, Jr.

Hannah Im, Del Norte, Sr.

Scarlett Lee, Cathedral Catholic, Sr.

Alyssa Liu, Canyon Crest Academy, Jr.

Kaelyn Liu, Canyon Crest Academy, Sr.

Surabhi Raghavendra, Scripps Ranch, So.