ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
In a battle of ninth-graders, Yasamina Hilu of Blacksburg stuck to her strategy and earned a place in the Group AA girls' singles tennis championship match.
Playing a baseline game predicated on high lobs that make for long points, Hilu turned back Poquoson's Andrea Hunter 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) in a Group AA semifinal at the Virginia Tech courts.
It might have been an all-Timesland final, but Western Albemarle's Meghan Mahan turned back Salem's Jill Archer 6-1, 6-1 in a rematch of last year's championship match. Mahan will meet Hilu for the title at 1 p.m. today when the Group AA tournament goes back to the Salem High School courts.
In team play, it was a bad day for Salem as the Spartans dropped behind in singles and lost to Gate City 5-2. That sets up a championship match between Gate City and Fort Defiance, which beat Poquoson 6-2.
In doubles, Gate City's Kellie Carter and Courtney Thomas disposed of Lakeland's Kelly Lewis and Angela Jones 6-2, 6-4. They'll play Allison Cole and Kellie Partlow of Handley, who knocked off the previously unbeaten duo of Salem's Archer and Betsy Hall 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.
The Hilu-Hunter match took more than three hours. Hilu stayed at the baseline, and that didn't sit well with Hunter.
``I wasn't prepared to play someone who played like that,'' Hunter said. ``That was like 12-and-under, and this is 16-and-under. I was totally off guard when I started playing 12-year-old tennis again.''
That said, Hunter indicated it will be a while before she has a chance to gain revenge against Hilu despite both being freshmen. ``I won't play high school tennis again until I'm a senior,'' she said.
Hilu said she prefers a baseline game, which helped her split regular-season matches with Archer. More than that, Hilu pointed to it as an advantage as Hunter had already played team tennis. ``I was trying to tire her out,'' she said. ``I figured she must be tired, so I tried to keep her deep.''
Hilu took the first set, then reversed in the second set to leave the two tied. In the final set, each player broke service three times. Hilu did it the last time, trimming Hunter's lead to 5-4. Then she held service to make it 5-5. When both players held service again, they used a tie-breaker to settle the match and Hilu dominated 7-3 with five match points at the end.
``In the first set, I was really tired. I couldn't get moving. In the second set, I was really motivated,'' Hunter said. ``In the third set, I had my opportunities to put her away, but I didn't.''
The biggest point came when Hilu evened the third set at five games. The two volleyed for nearly 10 minutes with all kinds of lobs that couldn't have pleased Hunter. It was vintage Hilu, and when she won, the victory seemed to turn the momentum back toward the Blacksburg freshman.
As for Archer, it was a bad day as she first lost in team singles, then was blitzed by Mahan, who got a chance to study Hilu for today's encounter.
``I was tired from this morning, but she's very good,'' Archer said before she tried to reverse the day in the doubles.
Mahan said it's been difficult being a defending champion.
``Everyone expects me to win since I did it last year,'' she said. ``I hadn't seen Jill since last year, but I didn't expect it to be this easy. She plays the baseline like me. I expected long points and that's what I got.''
In team tennis, Salem's Nos.5-6 singles, Kristin Lynch and Allison McCrary won to give the Spartans a chance in the doubles. They needed a sweep, though, and that was asking a little too much.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART Staff Yasamina Hilu of Blacksburg hits aby CNBreturn in a semifinal match in the Group AA singles championships at
Virginia Tech. color.