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SOUTH EL MONTE — Daniela Borruel of Sunny Hills is a freshman a few weeks shy of her 15th birthday, but she knows herself well on, and more importantly, off the tennis court.

She proved that at the CIF-Southern Section girls tennis individual championships Thursday.

The top-seeded Borruel rallied from a three-game deficit in the second set to close out a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the final against Marina junior Mika Ikemori to capture the singles crown at Whittier Narrows Tennis Center.

Borruel trailed 5-2 in the second set before using her aggressive and well-rounded game to rattle off five consecutive games against Ikemori, a fellow doubles finalist at the recent SoCal USTA sectionals.

Borruel said she leaned on the experience of rallying from a 5-0 deficit in the first set to win a match in a USTA tournament in Newport Beach over the summer.

“I knew what to do,” she said. “I just focused on every point and never gave up trying. My intensity went up as well, so that helped me a lot. There’s always a chance of coming back.”

Borruel became Sunny Hills’ first CIF singles champion since Christie Wan in 2016 but believes her father German congratulated her about making another type of history Thursday.

“We come from Mexican roots,” said Borruel, whose brothers German, 11, and Marcos, 8, also play tennis. “Not a lot Mexicans or Hispanics as a whole join tournaments or are in USTA tournaments. I know a few are but there’s not that majority so I think that’s what he meant today.”

Borruel credits her aggressive playing style, from charging the net to pounding forehand winners, to her mother, Rosario, who also serves as her fitness coach.

“My mom raised me like that,” Borruel said. “She’s always fired up. She taught me to be that way, ‘Don’t be passive on the court.’ “

An Orange County duo almost won the doubles title, too, but Aliso Niguel seniors Alexandra Ozerets and Kei Kato lost 1-6, 6-3, 3-6 to top-seeded Tsehay Driscoll and Eliana Hanna of La Cañada.

Ozerets and Kato united as doubles partners for the first time to claim the South Coast League title. The partnership was motivated by friendship and the desire to finish their high school careers as strong as possible.

“We’ve known each since middle school,” said Kato, who attended Don Juan Avila Middle School with Ozerets. “We kind of know what each other is thinking.”

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Kato and Ozerets certainly viewed the CIF tournament the same way. They beat Elaine Wu and Selina Wu of CIF-SS Division 1 team champion San Marino 6-2, 7-6 (3) in the semifinals.

“It’s our senior year, so we kind just wanted to play together,” Ozerets said. “I think we played our best.”