Daily Pilot Girls’ Tennis Dream Team: Marina’s Mika Ikemori overcomes obstacles with a smile
Mika Ikemori approaches life in a way that’s simple, yet profound.
The Marina High junior always gives thanks for what she has.
Things are not always easy for Ikemori, who was diagnosed with a seizure disorder when she was 9 years old. She takes three different types of medication, she said, and has little epileptic seizures each day.
Sometimes these seizures take place on the tennis court, where Ikemori spends a lot of her time.
They have gotten better lately; Ikemori has virtual visits with her neurologist, Dr. Nicole Cobo, about once a month. But in a sport as physically and mentally demanding as tennis, they are less than ideal.
Last August, Ikemori was playing in a national tournament in San Diego and she said she had at least 10 seizures during the match.
“I was really upset,” she said. “They kept happening and they wouldn’t go away and I didn’t know why.”
But she kept fighting, giving every ounce of effort possible in her 5-foot-3 frame. This is the attitude she wants to share with the world.
And even in the loss, even on her worst day, she still gave credit to her opponent, Isabel Pacheco of Florida.
“She played the right game,” Ikemori said. “She totally deserved to win.”
Ikemori, who has won numerous sportsmanship awards from the United States Tennis Assn., is gracious both in victory and defeat. She just managed to do the former a whole lot more than the latter this season for Marina.
Ikemori won her first Wave League singles championship and advanced all the way to the CIF Southern Section Individuals title match, just the second Viking to do so.
She is the 2021-22 Daily Pilot Girls’ Tennis Dream Team Player of the Year. And yes, she is very grateful.
“There are so many people with my condition that can’t play tennis, they can’t go to school,” she said. “I’m so luckily to be able to play tennis and to have a great neurologist, great doctors, such great family and friends that always support me, no matter what. I have people that I can turn to when things get tough, and it is tough sometimes.
“Sometimes I have a bad day, but when I have a bad day, I have to remember how lucky I am to have such a great life. I think that’s something that a lot of people take for granted; I don’t think people realize how great their lives are sometimes.”
Ikemori was pretty great for the Vikings, amassing a 30-3 overall record this season. She fought back from down 8-6 in the tiebreaker to beat Megan Sun of Westlake 6-7, 6-3, 10-8 in an Individuals round of 16 match.
She then beat Yen Nhi Huynh of Huntington Beach and Nadia Kojonroj of Troy to make the title match, where Ikemori lost 6-3, 7-5 to freshman Daniela Borruel of Sunny Hills.
“All the credit to her,” Ikemori said. “She was totally deserving of the win. But it was a great season. I love my team. They’re so supportive and so nice.”
Ikemori is a great leader for the Vikings, who finished 9-13 this season and third place in league. But the “team” extends to her mother Lynn, father Todd Eversgerd and younger brother Ike. Todd is a social studies teacher at Corona del Mar High, while Ike is a freshman at Marina.
Mika’s success extends to the classroom, where she said she had a 4.4 weighted grade-point average last semester. Outside of school, she and Laguna Beach senior Sarah MacCallum are involved with the nonprofit Second Serve, which provides tennis rackets, shoes, bags and clothing to underprivileged children around the country and world.
“She represents everything that you want from a tennis player,” Marina coach Chuck Kingman said. “Her reputation of being so nice, so incredibly fair, it almost precedes her. I would get an equal number of people who would come up and comment about not only how good she is, but also about how she’s such an incredibly nice girl. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that.”
To Ikemori, it all comes back to perspective.
The seizures don’t define her. Neither do the wins.
Her smile does.
“I would much rather be a good person on the court than a good tennis player,” she said. “Obviously you want to win, clearly, and you want to do well. But I think some people need to see that sometimes being a good person beats out winning a match. It’s more important, you know?”
Below are a look at the 2021-22 Girls’ Tennis Dream Team coach of the year, and first-team and second-team selections.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Mike Moorewood
Estancia
The Eagles found it tough going early in the season after graduating seven senior starters from last year’s squad, with Moorewood calling it a “total rebuild.” They didn’t have a full team of nine players for some matches, but still managed to finish 5-3 in league for a second-place tie with Orange behind league champion Calvary Chapel. Credit Moorewood, the former Los Alamitos and Mater Dei coach who called this season a most rewarding time in his coaching career. Estancia advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs, where the Eagles lost at Loara in the wild-card round.
FIRST-TEAM SINGLES
Yen Nhi Huynh
Huntington Beach | So.
After the graduation of standout Kaytlin Taylor, Huynh stepped into the No. 1 singles spot for the Oilers this fall. She did so with much success. Coach Patrick Wright said that Huynh, who lost twice in a nonleague match at Villa Park, went undefeated the rest of the regular season for Huntington Beach. She wouldn’t lose again until the final team match of the season, a narrow loss on games to eventual champion San Marino in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals. Huynh, the Surf League singles champion, avenged a loss to Villa Park’s Morgan Shaffer in CIF Individuals to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Ikemori.
Jessica MacCallum
Laguna Beach | So.
MacCallum, who won her first golden ball last summer playing doubles at the 16-and-under USTA Nationals, has a bright future in the sport. She was a rock in singles as a sophomore for the Breakers, finishing with a 27-2 record that included a win over Ikemori. She helped the Wave League champion Breakers reach the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs before losing on games to La Cañada. MacCallum also teamed with older sister Sarah to win the league doubles title.
Katelyn Smith
Laguna Beach | Jr.
Usually playing at line No. 3, Smith more than completed the Breakers’ dominant singles lineup which helped them upset top-ranked CdM in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff quarterfinals and almost make the title match. Smith, a Wave League singles finalist who pushed Ikemori to a third-set tiebreaker, finished the season 33-2. That included an impressive victory over La Cañada’s top player, Tsehay Driscoll, in the Division 1 semifinals.
FIRST-TEAM DOUBLES
Jane Paulsen and Cate Montgomery
Corona del Mar | Sr. and Jr.
Paulsen was versatile as a senior for the Sea Kings in singles or doubles, and she and Montgomery helped them take back the Surf League crown from Huntington Beach and advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals. As a doubles team, Paulsen and Montgomery also won the league doubles title and went 14-2 together as a tandem. They advanced to the CIF Individuals round of 16 before bowing out to a team from Arcadia. Paulsen is now in action on the pitch as a midfielder/defender for the CdM girls’ soccer team.
Cindy Huynh and Sophie Jin-Ngo
Huntington Beach | Seniors
Cindy Hunyh, the older sister of sophomore Yen Nhi and freshman Le Nhi, switched from singles to doubles in her senior year for the Oilers. She became the fourth partner in four years for Jin-Ngo, and they were quite a pairing. They were undefeated in the regular season with a 34-0 mark and ended up Surf League finalists. Huynh and Jin-Ngo then advanced to the CIF Individuals round of 16 before losing to the No. 3-seeded eventual finalists from Aliso Niguel.
Kailee You and Kaylee Hseih
Edison | Sr. and Jr.
You and Hseih helped the Chargers finish second in the Wave League and advance to the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs. They also provided a postseason highlight as a doubles team, as the Wave League finalists advanced to the CIF Individuals round of 16 before losing to the No. 2-seeded team from University. This provided a stellar ending to the high school career of You, who made it to CIF Individuals all four years but advanced the furthest as a senior.
SECOND-TEAM SINGLES
Player, School, Year
Sarah MacCallum, Laguna Beach, Sr.
Arden Stobart, Sage Hill, So.
Solaya Han, Huntington Beach, Sr.
SECOND-TEAM DOUBLES
Players, School, Years
Sophia Kehoe and Tara Spas, Estancia, Jr. and So.
Lauren Jones and Sophia Andrei-Birca, Corona del Mar, Jr. and So.
Emily Tran and Iris Chau, Fountain Valley, Sr. and Jr.
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