ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704030005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: BOYS TENNIS PREVIEW
SOURCE: RAY COX THE ROANOKE TIMES
Local high school teams gearing up for spring season.
Tennis is a young guy's game at Blacksburg High. It is now, at any rate.
With six of the top eight players off last year's stellar squad gone to graduation, the youth movement is on in Indian country.
Just how youthful is this movement, you may wonder? Plenty youthful, as five sophomores included among the top six players would certainly indicate.
The only non-10th-grader in the group is the current No. 2 seed, David Reynolds, who lost a challenge match to Paul Petersen, one of the aforementioned group of 10th-graders.
Louie Belt, the Blacksburg coach, promises another challenge match later in the season.
``It's a friendly rivalry,'' Petersen said.
Blacksburg will have some growing up to do, especially at the top of the ladder. Petersen succeeds Robert Gibb, who was the state runner-up in Group AA singles a year ago.
The rest of the lineup has shaken down to Craig Williams at No. 3, Abhishek Katyal in the fourth slot, Scott King at No. 5 and Derek Wilder in the sixth position. Petersen and Reynolds will lead off doubles competition as the Indians top team.
``In a season like this, you reassess your goals,'' Belt said. ``Before, we were realistic to set goals of winning the region and winning the state. Now, we're focusing on being one of the top-four teams in the district so we can go to the district tournament. We want to have a winning season and have everybody improve his game as the year goes on.''
Elsewhere in New River Valley boys' tennis:
Christiansburg, like Blacksburg, is preparing for a tough first campaign in the Blue Ridge District. The conventional wisdom has installed William Byrd as the team to beat with Lord Botetourt and Salem following closely behind.
The Blue Demons won't be as experienced as they were a year ago. Last year's No. 4, Kevin Bush, has ascended to the top seed and David Travis has moved all the way up to No. 2 from the sixth slot. A pair of freshmen, B.J. Whitehurst and Cory Danner, are holding down the third and fourth seeds with Ben Simmons at No. 5 and Walter Badillo at No. 6.
Veteran coach Steve Huppert is going to be busy.
``This is a whole new team,'' he said.
Also at work with a reshuffled lineup is Pulaski County's second-year coach David Conner, who is replacing last year's top two of Doug Freeman and Brook Eley, gone to graduation, with No. 1 Chris Wright and No. 2 Mikie Turner, (#4 last year), picking up where they left off. Mike Sandidge at No. 3, Jeremiah Seagle at the fourth seed.
``Turner is our best player as far as having good strokes, but he has struggled at times putting it all together," Conner said. "With Seagle just coming onto the team this year he has no match experience, but has the ability to make an impression early."
Radford, Floyd County, and Giles are all part of what could be the toughest tennis district in the state now that five-time defending state champion Glenvar has come aboard.
Radford has been ousted from Group A Region C competition each of the past two years by the Highlanders. With all but but one player back from a year ago, Bobcats coach Larry Mannon doesn't have to give anybody a history lesson.
``We're certainly setting our sights on getting to the state,'' he said.
The top player is junior Ben Nester, the defending district champion in singles. Joining him on the top doubles team is Ravi Tayal, who will also be holding down the second slot in the singles order. Will Farmer and Tim Fleisher will be at 3 and 4 and Danny Reed started the season at No. 5. John Gaskins and Joey Chase will battle it out for No. 6 singles, then set aside that rivalry as they join forces at No. 3 doubles.
All the underclassmen have sparked ``wait until next year'' talk, but Mannon doesn't want to hear any of that.
``Let's see what we can do now,'' he said.
Giles will be depending heavily on brothers Russell and Evan Bowling. Russell, a senior, is the top Spartans singles player. Evan is the second seed. Both of them will team up in doubles where they hope to repeat as Region C champions and improve on a third-place finish at the state.
After those two, Giles has about nine players who could fill out the rest of the lineup. Now, the bottom four includes Andy Johnston, David Hobbs, Matthew Thompson, and Tim Carbaugh.
Floyd County coach Jack Neff has appointed senior Jeremy Midkiff as his top seed and Timmy Yates in the second slot.
After that, the lineup is subject to change with Tobey Gralla, Justin Cox, Daniel Blevins, and David Rakestraw all vying for seeds.
Meanwhile, at nearby Narrows High, there's a new coach, Barry Rupp.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON THE ROANOKE TIMES Blacksburg's Paulby CNBPetersen practices his backhand swing. color