Sierra High’s Vannida Nguyen is using past experiences as both motivation and valuable lessons to learn from for the 2012 girls tennis season.

In the 2010 Valley Oak League Singles Tournament finals, she lost to then-Kimball High ace Pyper Brown decisively, 6-0, 6-1. Brown, an Ohio transplant who relocated to Southern California following her sophomore year at Kimball, was supposed to win.

“My sophomore year I felt privileged to have (faced) Pyper,” Nguyen said. “It definitely put things in perspective. I knew I needed to work harder because there are definitely better players out there.

“Winning league wasn’t my main concern, but getting to (the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Tournament) was. Getting to see that kind of play in person was good experience.”

The 2011 season was set up to be the start of a dominant two-year run for Nguyen. She was arguably the top returning singles player in the VOL, but she was thwarted by one of the top returning doubles players.

Weston Ranch’s Ly Hoang split two regular-season matches with Nguyen before downing her 6-2, 6-4 in the league finale. Nguyen was more experienced and the bigger hitter, but she was flustered by Hoang’s patient and slow-paced defensive tactics along with deceptive athletic ability.

“More than anything she really challenged my mental strength,” Nguyen said. “I had never played someone like her, so it was a really good test.”

With Hoang graduating last spring, Nguyen is once again the early favorite to earn the VOL singles title. This time, she feels better prepared.

After running on the school’s track team to stay in shape, she competed in a summer league with Melfort Tennis Academy. Her coaches, Ed Melfort and Frank Fontana of Manteca High, urge her to play more aggressively, while Sierra coach Vanessa Weeks preaches consistency.

“It’s a good combination to have,” Nguyen said. “It’s a combination I need.”

Weeks, who enters her second season as Sierra’s coach, said she is a more complete player.

“She is hitting the ball more thoughtfully as far as hitting where she wants to hit it instead of just playing out the points,” Weeks said. “We’ve been working a lot on strategy.”

Individual glory isn’t all Nguyen is after. Two years ago, Sierra qualified for the SJS Team Tournament and she hopes to lead the Timberwolves there again.

“A lot of the girls that we have returning have the basics down, so we’re ahead of a lot of the teams that graduated a lot of players.”