Daily Journal Girls' Tennis Player of the Year: Tess Ellingson

“I don’t recall any kid that committed (to herself and the program),” said longtime M-A head coach Tom Sorenson. “She’s probably one of the top-5 players we’ve ever had at M-A.”

It’s the second time Ellingson has won the Daily Journal’s player of the year award. She shared it with Eva Chow after they captured the CCS doubles crown in 2022.

The individual numbers this season were staggering. Ellingson went 17-1 on the season, missing just two matches due to a tournament she was playing in Hawaii.

In those 18 matches, 17 of which she won in straight sets, she played a total of 37 sets — losing just 35 games. She lost only 25 games in 16 matches against PAL competition this season, winning nine matches at love.

“I never wanted to skip a match,” Ellingson said. “I would say one thing that definitely helps me, and [Sorenson] has said this a couple times, the worst insult to an opponent is to treat them lightly. I honestly just tried to lose as few points as possible.”

But don’t confuse Ellingson’s respect of her opponent with her not wanting to dominate them. Ellingson lost so few games and so few points that she tracked how many points she lost to a player in the first round of the season and would try to have fewer the second time around.

“It sounds kind of narcissistic,” Ellingson said. “But I want to know why I’m losing these points so I know how to work on those things.”

There was one blemish on Ellingson’s senior resume — a first-round loss in the CCS singles tournament. They were the only two sets she lost this season, dropping a 4-6, 6-4, 8-10 decision to Cupertino’s Anika Malik, a player Ellingson had faced several times in junior tournaments.

While disappointed in the moment, she said the loss did not define her season.

“Honestly, I just didn’t play a good match,” Ellingson said. “It was definitely hard to end my season that way, but I tried think back on all the fun I had with my team during the year.”

That loss won’t define Ellingson because is was so much more than just a tennis player. She was a part of a tennis team, a role she did not take lightly. As one of three team captains, she was as invested in the team’s success as much as her own.

“She did not have to play for us this year,” Sorenson said, noting the graduation of Ava Martin, 2021 Daily Journal Girls’ Tennis Player of the Year, and former standout Eva Chow deciding not to return to M-A for this school year, with whom Ellingson won two PAL doubles title and the CCS crown.

“She and her family have been such huge parts of the entire tennis program,” Sorenson continued. “She was a wonderful role model and leader on the team. I can’t say enough about the commitment she had to the team.”

And Sorenson said her commitment never wavered, even as the once mighty Bears, who had won eight Bay Division championships in a row before Carlmont usurped them as the team the beat the last two years, have fallen a bit in the division standings.

As the talent has waned ever so slightly, it would have been easy for the veteran of junior tennis to simply focus on the tournament circuit, with a place on the roster at Pomona-Pitzer already secured.

But Ellingson embraced the opportunity to go through the ups and downs of a high school tennis season. The Bears finished in fourth place in the Bay Division standings this season with a 8-6 record.

“I had a joke with the team — ‘We might not win every match, but I will not let us get swept,’” Ellingson said with a laugh. “It was really important for me to play all four years. I love my coach, he means so much to me. I didn’t just want to stop playing because [top talent graduated or left]. I wanted to be there for my team and keep playing for them.”

Ellingson is so appreciative of her team that she said her favorite moment didn’t even involve one of her matches. It was a doubles match her teammates and co-captains, Sophia Jobst and Nia Sadrzadeh, played against Aragon in the first round of the PAL team tournament — which determines the PAL’s second automatic bid to the CCS tournament.

The Bears lost the team match, but Jobst and Sadrzadeh won their match, winning 10-4 in a third-set super tiebreaker.

“Our team had lost, but I was so happy for them,” Ellingson said. “I love watching other people have a love for tennis. They both had a love for tennis.”

Her appreciation for the team also has a tactical element to it, as well, because she will continue to be part of a team in college. She believes her time with the Bears will help her adjust to her time with the Sagehens.

“Now that I’m going to play team tennis in college, it was valuable to be on a team and understand that dynamic,” Ellingson said. “When you’re playing USTA [tournaments], it’s all about you. When you play high school, it’s not all about you.

“It’s not something I would want to learn at the college level.”

And as far as Ellingson’s potential in college? Sorenson thinks she is just only getting started.

“Tess has the perfect tennis build,” said Sorenson of the 6-foot and lean Ellingson. “She has size and she has power. I think she was a rather late bloomer because she had to grow into her body a bit.

“Her strength is really her head. She very much wants to construct a game that works against the best players.”