Late-bloomer Griggs finding success at COS

By the end of her first tennis match in a Giants uniform for College of the Sequoias, Anna Griggs didn’t know what to make of it.

She stared at the flip cards at the end of the net, wondering whether there was a mistake.

“I was like, ‘What just happened?’” the 19-year-old said.

Griggs realized she had just lost — an experience she hadn’t tasted in nearly three years of league action.

“I got a little depressed and (COS coach Jay Johnson) was like, ‘Welcome to the world,’” Griggs said.

Griggs had stood on top of the world she left behind, climbing from the No. 9 spot on Granite Hills’ varsity squad as a freshman to the No. 1 singles player as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Griggs swept through all 48 matches of the East Yosemite League without a single loss as a junior or a senior, twice winning EYL as the No. 1 overall tennis player. Moreover, Griggs never had one game taken from her during the entire EYL tournament at the end of her senior year.

Needless to say, losing was a foreign concept to Griggs since she first picked up her grandfather’s triangular racket at age 15. As a former college player at Chapman University and Pasadena City College, Griggs’ father, Bruce, tried to get his daughter involved at an earlier age. Mostly with little success.

“I didn’t really like tennis,” Griggs explained. “I played a handful of times but I just decided to try it my freshman year. I really didn’t wanna play.

“Once I got some coaching and I started hitting it in,” she continued, “it kind of got addicting.”

Griggs quickly moved up the ranks under Grizzlies coach Randy Smee, whom Griggs considered one of her best motivators.

But her greatest source of motivation? That would be winning.

“She’s easy going but very competitive,” Bruce Griggs said.

Added Johnson, “When she lost a few matches (during her freshman year at COS), it was hard on her mentally. She simply wasn’t used to it.”

After her sophomore year at Granite Hills, Griggs qualified for CIF Valley individuals, losing in the first round. The following season, Griggs again lost to the same girl in the first match.

When Griggs was seeded last at No. 16 after her senior year, however, that didn’t deter her from taking her frustrations out on her next opponent — a No. 4 seed — and becoming a tournament Cinderella of sorts until she exited in the third round.

Griggs will likely never toss around excuses as to why she ever loses. But playing against girls with years of training, money and memberships at racket clubs are things she never had.

Without the proper coaching and training, Griggs developed an unorthodox style she labels “the Porterville way of playing,” a “street” version of tennis which she sees in other Porterville-area players.

“In Porterville, we kind of teach ourselves,” she said. “We don’t have a racket club to go to. Everyone who comes out of Porterville has all these drop shots that you wouldn’t see professionals do and our coaches all try to change that.”

Still, when Johnson first got a glimpse of Griggs in his advanced tennis class at COS, he loved what he saw.

“She’s very aggressive,” said Johnson, whose team is 10-2 with Griggs at No. 1. “She had no fear about going to the net. A lot of girls coming out of high school don’t like the net. She likes to serve and volley.”

But Johnson told Griggs she needed to change her swing — a task that surpassed any challenge an opponent across the net could offer.

“I had never really been taught the right style and I was stepping with the wrong foot — all arm and no leg,” Griggs said. “I wouldn’t hit it the same way; wherever the ball was, I’d just hit it.

“Jay started making me (adjust) and I hated it,” she added. “When the ball would be coming, I’d be thinking, ‘Which foot, which foot?’”

The change seems to be working as Griggs’ record now stands at 11-1 in singles play. She’s also lost just one match in doubles, teaming up with COS’ No. 2 Nicole Simoni.

“I’m still trying to adjust but it’s starting to work and I have more power in my swing,” she said.

Though she could very well transfer and play at a larger school for her junior and senior years (Johnson says he keeps in touch with Alabama and Kansas universities), Griggs said this season will be the last of her short-lived tennis career.

Griggs hopes to attain a degree from Fresno State University in communicative disorders, where she will aid deaf children with school work through ASL interpretation.

“I think (these two years at COS) are very fulfilling for Anna and she’s ready to move on and pursue her career,” Johnson said. “At first, she got kicked around a little, but she kept her positive attitude and worked through it.”

Now, Griggs can say she’ll leave this world the same way she left the last — on top.