Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993 TAG: 9304160038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TECH AFTER METRO TITLE IN TENNIS
Virginia Tech men's tennis coach Larsen Bowker isn't sure he'll be calling the shots for the Hokies at this weekend's Metro Conference tennis tournament, but he does know one thing."I will appear on the surface and let the boys know I'm behind them," said Bowker, who had a mild heart attack Sunday and has been hospitalized in Blacksburg since.
He said he will be released from Montgomery Regional Hospital this morning, well before Tech's men play UNC Charlotte at 2:30 p.m. at Tech. But he wants to be careful about making too grand a return, and said he may leave the coaching up to assistants Mike Petersen and Alex Ortiz.
"I don't want [the players] thinking about me and whether I'm going to keel over," he said. "It's their time. It's not my time.
"[But] I'll be around there somewhere."
Bowker, 56, drove himself to the hospital Sunday after experiencing chest pains. Tests showed one artery in his heart had "a complete blockage." However, doctors decided against performing a coronary angioplasty, a procedure using a balloon that is inserted into the affected artery and blown up to clear the blockage.
"[There were] collateral arteries that took its place," Bowker said. "There was no damage to the heart. They just performed their own bypass."
Bowker said medication and a new diet are being prescribed.
"I'm better than I have a right to expect," he said.
He hopes the Hokies men fare the same this weekend. Matches will be held at Virginia Tech's Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center as well as on Radford University's campus.
Tech's men are the No. 2 seed, behind 18th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth, which received a first-round bye. Other men's first-round matches: Louisville vs. Southern Mississippi, 9 a.m. at Radford; No. 3 South Florida vs. No. 6 Tulane, 2:30 p.m. at Radford.
Tech's women are seeded fourth and will play fifth-seeded Louisville 9 a.m. today at Tech. Top-seeded South Florida has a bye. Other women's matches: No. 2 VCU vs. No. 7 Southern Mississippi, 12:30 p.m. at Radford; No. 3 Tulane vs. No. 6 UNC Charlotte, 12:30 p.m. at Tech.
The men's first-round winners, and VCU, play semifinal matches 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Tech on Saturday; the Hokies will play at 4 p.m. if they win today. The women's first-round winners play at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday at Tech; the Hokie women would play at 9 a.m. if they advance.
The men's championship is noon Sunday at Tech; the women's is 9 a.m. Sunday at Tech.
Men's and women's consolation matches will be held Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m. at Radford.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.