ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605300028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
Before the season started, Radford High School girls' tennis coach Betty Branch said it seemed only fitting that the Bobcats' goal should be to win the state title. After all, Radford would play host to the championship tournament May 29-30 whether it was participating in it or not.
However, the coach was quick to add, winning was secondary to laughing and having fun. She concluded that what she really wanted for her team was for it to win and to have fun.
Wishes occasionally come true. After the Bobcats won the Group A Region C title May 21 in Lexington in a relaxed yet dominating manner to advance to the state final four, Branch can't ask for much more. Except, of course, the state title.
Radford will face Region A champion New Kent at Radford University's Dedmon Center in the state semifinals today, while the Region D champion J.J. Kelly and Region B champion George Mason will square off in the other semifinal match.
At the same time as Radford heads into team competition today, Blacksburg's No.1 seed, Yasimina Hilu, will be in Salem to compete in the Group AA state singles championships. Hilu will face Andrea Hunter from Poquoson in first-round action today.
Radford's top-seeded Mandy Harless, the regional runner-up in singles, said to win the state championship, the Bobcats need to play with heart, concentrate, and stay relaxed - something they seemed to have no trouble doing in their 6-3 regional championship victory over Grayson County. Harless said she had never seen the team so relaxed during a match before, and admits it's not a frame of mind that will be easily duplicated.
"We had played Grayson last year and lost really bad," Harless recalled. "So we were looking at Grayson as a really good team we didn't think we could beat ... that made us real relaxed. I've never seen us play so well."
Branch, who coaches with Susan Cox, said the girls might have been relaxed, but the regional match was making her and Cox nervous wrecks. In a role-reversal, it was the players who stopped and made the coaches laugh.
"No.5 seed Erin Yopp comes walking up to me and flops down in a chair and says, 'Lordy, I just didn't think it was going to be this easy,'" Branch said. "There she was - beyond hot, worn out and dripping wet with sweat - making it sound so easy."
And she wasn't the only one with a laid-back attitude, either.
"Susan walked up to the fence to talk tennis to our No.6 seed, Caroline [Gaskins], and as she leaned to the fence she asked, 'Caroline, how are you doing?' Caroline's answer was, 'I'm doing fine, how are you doing?' How are you doing? She said it just as plain as 'How are you this morning?' Not like she was in the middle of a big match."
So the task for Branch and Cox today will be finding another way to duplicate the team's easy-going humor as it faces its toughest competition yet. And as is often the case with athletes, Branch admits that this week, like most others, it was probably Harless - the most talented player - who attracted the least attention.
But despite Harless' 6-0, 6-1 loss in the to Bland's Ashleigh Sarver in the regional singles finals, Branch said she won't be worried about Harless in her state match today.
"Mandy doesn't have the picture-perfect stroke but Mandy's got intelligence along with a strong will to win," she said, "and I'll take that over a picture-perfect stroke any day."
Hilu, Blacksburg's standout freshman, advanced to the state tournament after capturing the Region IV title with a win over Richland's Ashley Stevenson in the semifinals and Gate City's Kellie Carter in the final.
"[Hilu's] very excited," Blacksburg coach Jennifer Buckley said. "She was looking forward to playing [Salem's] Jill Archer in the first round because she's beaten Jill before, but she'll have to play Andrea Hunter first.
"She's been training a lot ... trying to get herself mentally prepared. She's worked hard, and I really think she can do it."
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Radford's top-seeded Mandy Harless, theby CNBregional runner-up in singles, said to win the state championship,
the Bobcats need to play with heart, concentrate, and stay relaxed.