Tennis : Jellen Wears Out Opponents, Her Parents in Dash to Top 20

Stacey Jellen, a 13-year-old from Calabasas, is taking a much-deserved break from tennis. Jellen has either sat in an airplane or run around a court for the past two months but will--for at least a few days--remain planted on the family davenport.

“I’ve been taking a break for a week and a half,” she said. “I wasn’t really tired of tennis, but my parents felt I needed a break.”

It was probably her parents who were in need of a break. They traveled with Jellen as she competed in tournaments as near as Fountain Valley and as distant as Atlanta.

Jellen, in her first year of competing in the 14-and-under division, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Southern California Tennis Assn. sectional championships in Fountain Valley in late June.

Two weeks later, she competed in the United States Tennis Assn. National Hard Court championships in San Rafael, where she won five of six matches.

After a week in Calabasas, she traveled to the USTA National Clay Court championships in Greensboro, N. C., and picked up five more wins. Next, she took off for a week of training in Florida.

Two weeks ago, Jellen, competed in the USTA Nationals in Atlanta. She advanced to the round of 16, then won three consolation matches to push her national ranking into the top 20.

“Since it was my first year, I guess I did pretty well,” said Jellen, who won’t know her final national ranking until the end of the year. “I like to travel, and I have a lot of friends in the tournaments.”

Local feud: Tennis is considered an individual sport, but 29 juniors from Ventura County will band together to play in the Gar Glenney Cup, a team state championship this weekend at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center.

“I think that when we can incorporate team aspects like Little League and bowling do, then it can really be special for the kids,” said Wayne Bryan, Ventura’s junior team commissioner. Club teams in six age brackets competed year-round in leagues from Ventura to San Diego. The top two teams from those leagues compete for the Southern California championship twice a year and the winners play the Northern California champions for the cup.

“It’s fun cheering for your teammates and it takes a lot of pressure off you,” said Camarillo’s Steve Stuckovsky.

Stuckovsky, a senior at Camarillo High, competes for the 18-and-under team from the Cabrillo Racquet Club. In fact, three Cabrillo teams--girls’ and boys’ 12-and-under are the other two--advanced to the state championship, the first time more than one team has advanced from the Camarillo-based club. A fourth area squad, the girls’ 15-and-under team from the Oakridge Racquet Club in Simi Valley, also advanced.

“The teams are usually from Palos Verdes and the South Bay,” Bryan said. “And for the first time, here’s little Ventura County with four of the six teams.”

Portnoy prevails: Alisha Portnoy of Northridge defeated Natasha Pospich of Woodland Hills in the girls’ 16-and-under singles final of the Junior Tennis Classic at the Los Angeles Tennis Center last weekend. Portnoy, seeded No. 2, defeated the top-seeded Pospich, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Unseeded Darin Pleasant, a Westlake High graduate, defeated No. 2 Glenn Henderson of Fullerton, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, in the semifinals of the boys’ 18-and-under singles division. Pleasant lost by default to unseeded Ken Pedroza of Ventura in the final after he suffered a pulled back muscle his semifinal victory.