Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9410200025
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Four of the top six players, plus a part-time starter, return from a Knights team that finished as the runner-up to Patrick Henry in the Roanoke Valley District. Back along with Masters are sophomore Alicia Todd, who plays No.2 singles, Jill Nussbaum and Gina Nasca. Amy Ottaway, who was starting by the end of the '93 season, also returns.
Coach Joe Hafey says this team reminds him of the 1990 Cave Spring squad that was the last Roanoke Valley District team to make the Group AAA tournament.
``That's the potential I see,'' Hafey says. ``We're as deep as that team that went to Virginia Beach.''
To prove his point, Hafey is taking his squad to Virginia Beach for matches against perennial state powers Frank Cox and Kempsville this weekend in Virginia Beach.
The Knights will be on the road for a long time, but they're becoming accustomed to it. This team is without a home court.
The 30-year-old Cave Spring courts, which are behind the school, were scheduled to be resurfaced for this season.
The work was scheduled to be completed before school started last week, but is running behind schedule. So the Knights not only lost the advantage of playing at home, they lost some built-in advantages at the old court.
``The courts were awful. They had a lot of cracks,'' Todd says.
``If you hit the ball right, [the cracks] affected it. We could get the ball right on the spot,'' Masters says. ``We knew about it. The other teams didn't know that much about them.''
So was Cave Spring lucky or talented a year ago?
``We didn't have the talent, we just had the strategy,'' Masters says facetiously.
``Now we have to travel to play all our matches,'' Todd says.
``When you do that [play all matches away from home], only parents will come to watch. When we played on these courts [at the school], we might have gotten some support [from the students],'' adds Masters.
The problem arose in the timing of the resurfacing work, which still is a month from completion.
``The courts themselves don't belong to the school division. They belong to the [Roanoke County] parks and recreation department, even though they're on school property,'' Hafey says.
Jeff Balon, parks supervisor for the Roanoke County Parks and Recreation Department, is in charge of the resurfacing.
``The work has to go to bid, you have to award the bid and then the contractor has to work it into their schedule,'' Balon says.
He understands the frustration. Balon says the contract was signed June 23 with S.R. Draper Paving of Roanoke and called for the work to be completed by Aug.19. That would have been in plenty of time for the season.
The contractor put down the first surface as a base. Then came a delay in putting down the final surface.
Randy Draper, president of S.R. Draper, says the biggest obstacle came when a ditch was blocked by another company doing work on the track and soccer field above the tennis courts. That caused a backup in drains on the track, and the overflow weakened part of the surface on the tennis courts. It also was a wet summer, especially in late July and August.
``It's very tedious to get everything right,'' Draper says. ``You have to get everything right on the money.''
If Draper didn't do that, the new courts might not drain evenly. Then, when a match was played, one side of the court might be wet and the other one dry so one player would have an advantage. The final surface can't be put down until the primary surface is even and has no soft spots.
Hafey also was upset when he arrived to find tire tracks on the new primary surface because the fence around the courts had to be been taken down until the final surface was installed.
Hafey felt somebody might have run a car onto the courts, causing a delay in completing the work. Balon, though, says the tracks were from a truck put on the courts by the construction company as a test.
Even when fresh tracks were found late last week, there was no worry about them affecting completion of the work.
Once the final surface is put down, it will be at least 30 days before the courts can be lined and seven more days for the paint to dry. Installation of the final surface began late last week, meaning the Knights might be able to use the courts by the second week of October.
``We work very hard to keep things on schedule and do things correctly. Doing them correctly is paramount, even if it brings on delays,'' Balon says. ``Our primary goal is to get a good job. It might be 30 more years before we can do it again.''
Masters shouldn't have to wait that long to win a title. She figures to be the favorite to win the RVD singles crown this year. Last fall she was the runner-up to Patrick Henry's Amy Speas, losing in three sets, and Speas has graduated.
The senior comes from a tennis family. Her father, Joseph, got her started in the sport when she was 4 years old. Two older sisters - Ellen and Janet - played at Cave Spring, Ellen on the 1990 team.
``I remember them going to the state [tournament]. I went to all the matches,'' says Debra Masters, who also was a district runner-up last year in doubles. ``Ellen was my sister, so I had to pay attention.''
Todd has split sets with Masters and still holds out hope of gaining the No.1 spot this year, even though she's only a sophomore.
``My parents taught me how to play when I was 8 or 9,'' says Todd, who like Masters hopes to play tennis in college.
As for the courts, the Knights will make do, thanks to some help from their neighbors.
``It's a shame we have to farm them [the team] out,'' Hafey says. ``We've practiced at Penn Forest Elementary School, and Hunting Hills has been great giving us court time for practice.''
Somehow, the Knights will muddle through the problem content with the knowledge that better days are ahead.
by CNB