Homeschooled tennis star leads Cholla High to best season in years

Campos is 21-3 this season and just had a seven-match singles winning streak.

This season she is 10-2 in singles, 7-1 in doubles 1 and 4-0 in doubles 2. She lost her most recent singles match, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6, to Walden Grove junior Hayden Schellhorn, but she’s still having fun.

“It's pretty good, I’m a little disappointed myself for (Thursday’s) loss, but, yeah, I've been having fun,” Campos said of her season. “Honestly, that's all that matters.”

As a sophomore, she went 19-9 and was 13-15 as a freshman, starting her first year as Cholla’s No. 1 singles player and facing a senior in her first match.

“She's improved a lot, like every year she's improved, so she's on that upward trajectory,” Cholla head coach Bernardo Jimenez said. “She's lost a couple matches, but I mean, she's pretty much beat everybody she's supposed to beat, according to me.”

Jimenez said with how hard she works, Campos' improvements haven’t been unexpected.

“Especially like the jump from freshman, the sophomore year was pretty significant and the same jump she's made from sophomore to junior year,” Jimenez said. “So I expect the same jump next year even, too, as a senior.”

Campos started playing tennis the summer before her freshman year.

“I didn't think I would play high school tennis at all, but it turned out great and I'm so glad I did,” Campos said. “So I took like a group lesson with some of my friends, just like every other Saturday and then I just fell in love with it … I got coached and started playing tournaments.”

Setting the bar

Cholla (9-3) started the season 7-0.

“In the beginning of the year, I told them this team it has the chance to go to state, that was like our stretch goal, like at least in my head,” Jimenez said. “So they've met my expectations and I knew from the beginning of the year, they could be this good and I just challenged them to meet my expectations.”

In Friday’s rankings, the Chargers are No. 25 so making the 16-team state tournament isn’t likely but they will finish above .500 for the first time since the AIA launched their current website in 2011-12.

Campos said it has been a pretty good season for the Chargers.

She said they’re really pumped and excited to do well for their senior, Keyra Valenzuela’s last season. Valenzuela (15-9) is usually Campos’ doubles partner.

Last year Campos and Valenzuela made the doubles state tournament, where they beat Cottonwood Mingus Union 5-7, 7-5, 10-6 in the first round before falling 6-0, 6-0 to Scarlett Bakken and Jordan Crawford from Canyon del Oro in the second round. The CDO girls reached the semifinals before losing to eventual doubles state champ Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep.

“It was awesome, yeah, we were not expecting much, obviously, it was the first time, but we won one match and that was awesome,” Campos said. “I feel like it was great for our No. 2 (player), as well, to be able to do that.”

The singles and doubles tournaments have 32 slots and are picked by a committee after the regular season. The top eight are seeded and then the rest are drawn at random.

Jimenez is confident that Campos will make the singles tournament.

“She should definitely be in there, it’ll be tough for her to be seeded now because of (Thursday’s) loss and then Nogales will be a tough match for her, too,” Jimenez said. “So she probably won't get a seed, but she'll be the top 32 at least.”

This season Campos said she is working on being more aggressive, “taking things out of the air,” “going to the net more.”

“Honestly, I just want to play my best each match, but I'd love to make it for singles state this year and maybe next year, as well,” Campos said. “Last year we went for doubles and that was awesome, but I'd love to be able to compete, going for singles.”

'Second family'

Jimenez she has become more of a leader this year, getting less shy every season.

“She just tries hard, she takes criticism well and her parents they hold her accountable, and they support her, too,” Jimenez said. “They help her with lessons and anything she wants to do.”

The transition from being homeschooled her entire life to being a member of a high school team has been seamless for Campos.

“Honestly, this team is awesome, so it has not been hard at all, like basically my second family right now,” Campos said. “So it wasn't that hard, no, I kind of fit right in.”

But she still loves being homeschooled.

“I've never had a complaint with it, it’s awesome,” Campos said. “I still have a social life here with tennis and definitely my parents have given me a lot of opportunities outside of my house, so yeah, I love it.”

Outside of tennis, she has played piano since she was about 7 years old and loves history and reading. After high school she wants to study business and go to International Baptist College & Seminary in Chandler.

“I'm working on my bachelor's in business right now, but I plan on finishing it next year after I graduate and then also I want to go to Bible college,” she said.

On Wednesday, Campos and the Chargers close out their regular season home schedule by hosting Nogales (7-3) at 3:30 p.m. Heading into the last week of the regular season, Cholla is in fifth place in Division II, Section VIII with a 2-3 section record.

Jimenez said it will be hard for Campos to become the first Charger to place at individual state since her opponents have played so long but if anyone can, it's her.

Cholla’s best girls tennis finish is a tie for second with Buena in 1972 at AA (second highest level).

“It'll be tough, it’s always tough to get into like the top 4, top 5 at state because then she's competing against girls that have been doing the same thing she has, but for like twice as long — they started at like 8 years old or even earlier,” Jimenez said. “And so that's what she's going up against, but yeah in four years you can make up a lot of ground if you work hard and she's done that.”

Fast five with Paloma

Who’s your favorite tennis player?

Jannik Sinner.

Do you have a pre-match routine?

I pretty much just eat before a match is what I try to do. ... But our favorite song as a team, we love to listen to Shakira, “Try everything.”

What's your favorite movie or show?

Favorite movie hmm, it's so hard. I'm gonna go with "The Book Thief."

What’s your favorite sport besides tennis?

I love ice skating, actually, figure skating, yeah.

What's your favorite subject in school?

Probably reading.