Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Tech tennis coach Larsen Bowker found his sleeper - a player of undiscovered talent - just a bicycle ride from campus.
It was fortunate for Bowker and the Hokies, who now have a promising sophomore player, and also for the athlete in question. Blacksburg resident Marek Pfeil does not yet own an automobile.
``I ride my bicycle everywhere,'' he said.
If Bowker's assessment is accurate, Pfeil will be enjoying a more glamorous mode of transportation in the not-too-distant future.
``I really believe that if he has the ambition to do it, he can be a professional tennis player,'' Bowker said. ``He has the size and he has the talent.''
Pfeil, 20, goes a sinewy 6-feet-4 with a sleeve that appears to the untrained eye to be in the 36- to 37-inch range. Pfeil can use his foot speed and quickness for even more court coverage.
The guy can play, too, as he demonstrated most recently by gliding to the championship of the men's open bracket at the Commonwealth Games of Virginia in Roanoke. Not that he's some overnight sensation. Pfeil worked his way up to No. 2 singles and third doubles (with Mark Tepes) for Tech last year as a true freshman.
Pfeil went 14-9 in singles, swatting his way to some memorable victories along the way. One of them was against nationally ranked Rice University when it was left up to Pfeil to serve with his individual match and the team's outcome hanging in the balance.
Pfeil won.
``He fought a tough, gritty match and so did his opponent,'' Bowker said. ``It shows you the kind of tough competitor he is.''
How was it that such a player arrived at Tech almost unheralded? That's where the Pfeil file begins to get complicated.
Pfeil and his family - younger brother Mike and parents Irena and Jan - are native Poles who moved to this country in the mid-1980s as Jan pursued a career as an industrial and mechanical engineer with Volvo-White Trucks.
The first stop was Salt Lake City. Marek was 11 when he moved.
``I spoke no English; none,'' he said. ``Two weeks later, I was in school there.''
With the help of his father, the only coach he's ever had until he came to Tech, Marek Pfeil took up tennis. He played for Judge Memorial High in Salt Lake City until the summer between his sophomore and junior years when he moved to Germany as an exchange student.
When he returned a year later, the family was in the process of moving to Virginia. The plant where his father worked was shutting down and Jan Pfeil was being transferred to the factory in Dublin.
Marek Pfeil played tennis for a year at Blacksburg High before his eligibility expired. He was a junior academically, having opted to repeat that year to make up for the year abroad, but a senior in eligibility because he would be a five-year high school student.
During his last year of high school, he began to play tournament tennis, rising to a rank of 117 in the United States Tennis Association boys age 18-and-under bracket, No. 5 in the Mid-Atlantic rankings, and No. 4 in the state.
When it came time for college, the recruiters weren't exactly lining up to sign him.
``Colleges recruit according to the rankings,'' Bowker said. ``Marek had been moving around a lot and he was in Blacksburg, an out-of-the-way place where it is difficult to get to a lot of tournaments from.''
Bowker saw the potential and set aside the scholarship money, a wise move as it turned out.
Stories abound of players who have been screwed up because of amateurish parental coaching, but that was not the case with Pfeil and his father. Bowker and his assistant, Scott Cuppett, had very little mechanical work to do with Pfeil's game.
``The one big change for me is that I want to hit it hard all the time and go for winners and they want me to keep the ball in play and let the other guy make the error,'' Pfeil said.
Obviously, that says something for the elder Pfeil's coaching.
``He's done an incredible job,'' the son said.
by CNB