Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 10, 1993 TAG: 9306100005
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Salem and Glenvar won team titles. Blacksburg's Marek Pfeil and Glenvar's Nick Varney earned singles championships. Then, Pfeil teamed with Robert Gibb to win a Group AA doubles crown, and Varney hooked up with Eric Starkloff to take the title in Group A.
Pfeil is the Timesland boys' player of the year, beating out Varney, who won the award last year as a freshman. Dave Petersen, who guided Salem to a state title, is the boys' coach of the year over Glenvar's Art Lawrence, who won last year after the Highlanders gave him his first state championship.
While girls' tennis didn't reach such heights on a state level, it was a great year for Blacksburg. The Indians ended Radford's New River District domination.
Individually, two underclassmen gave a hint of better things to come. Patrick Henry's Amy Speas, a junior, beat out North Cross freshman Anne Lemon as Timesland girls' tennis player of the year. Blacksburg's Susan Cox is Timesland's coach of the year.
Pfeil totally dominated local tennis. He lost only one set in doubles or singles competition. That came in a tie-breaker in the state finals against Harrisonburg's Brandon Davis, the 1992 Group AA state champion.
Pfeil rallied, though, winning the next two sets 6-3, 6-1. In the turnaround, he won 10 consecutive games.
"I don't know if I overpowered him, but he started making more mistakes and got a little tired," Pfeil said of the victory over Davis.
The Blacksburg star spent the 1991-92 school year as an exchange student in Germany, but he remained a junior academically because some of his credits did not transfer. Even though Pfeil did not play tennis in Germany, this was the fourth year since he began competing in high school athletics in Utah, where he played as a freshman and sophomore. Virginia High School League guidelines state that an athletic career must be completed in four consecutive years, so if Pfeil wants to compete in tennis as a senior at Blacksburg, he must appeal to the VHSL.
"I knew he was in town," said Blacksburg coach Curtis Turner. "Originally, he hadn't planned to play; he didn't feel there was enough competition. Then right before we started, he came out."
"He's the most powerful player I've seen since Wade McGuire of Mills Godwin in 1987," Petersen said. "No one in Double-A is anywhere near Pfeil. There's no other way to say it; he's flat-out tough.
"We looked for a weakness, but there was no way to attack. He'll make someone a major-college player."
Speas won the girls' award despite playing two sports at one time. She ran cross country and played tennis in the fall, winning the Roanoke Valley District tennis title before losing in the Northwestern Region. Speas went 11-2, losing in the region and to an E.C. Glass player.
"I like tennis better, but overall, I'm better at cross country," says Speas, who will attempt to compete in both sports again next year. "I'll play in the tournaments around here and Lynchburg this summer, but I'll also continue to run."
Speas also runs track in the spring for the Patriots.
Petersen had three runner-up state teams at Salem, including two in the last three years in Group AA play, before winning his first title.
Salem beat Blacksburg 5-4 in a state semifinal as the Spartans took two of three doubles matches. It was Petersen's decision to break up his top doubles duo - Eddel Veloso and David Arnold - for team play that turned the trick.
Arnold remained at No. 1 with Jeff Henley, and they lost to Pfeil and Robert Gibb. Veloso went to No. 2 with Jon Valera and beat Mike Pfeil, Marek's brother, and Justin Turner. Then Kevin Dalal and David Smith won at No. 3 doubles to give Salem the victory over the Indians.
"I've always tried to balance my doubles, but with a rule interpretation in 1988, it made it easier. Now you have to keep one of two players consistent with the individual doubles team instead of two. With David's improved game, he became consistent and we moved Eddel [to make the other team stronger]," Petersen said.
Blacksburg beat Salem 5-4 in the opening match of the regular season. "After that, we knew we had our work cut out. All the kids talked about was that we had to play them for the state. So from that point on, we prepared for that one match," Petersen said.
"It almost beat us [in Region III] against Brookville. We weren't concentrating on them; we weren't really thinking about Brookville."
The Spartans had to win all three doubles matches to beat the Bees 5-4 and advance to the state semifinal.
Cox, a former Pulaski County player in her first year as coach, saw her team go 11-3. The Indians won the New River District over Radford, ending the Bobcats' 12-year reign.
"I was surprised to beat Radford, especially by that margin," said Cox, whose Indians won the regular-season meetings 6-3 and 7-2 and the district championship 6-3.
"I didn't realize Radford had won for that long. The kids were excited. At the beginning of the season, they asked for a goal. I said to beat Radford and win the district."
by CNB