THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411120332
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
First Colonial's Mily Kannarkat shook off a disastrous beginning and stormed into the Group AAA girls tennis singles final Friday at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center.
Kannarkat, the Eastern Region champion, rallied to overtake Clover Hill's Amy Fowler, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round, then raised her game another notch and took out West Springfield's Meaghan Andrews, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals.
It was Kannarkat's 25th victory without a loss this season.
The Patriots' freshman will meet Yorktown's Caryn Cuthbert (16-0) for the state title today at 9 a.m. at Owl Creek.
``I played really well in my second match today,'' Kannarkat said. ``I'm going to have the same or maybe even better to win (Saturday).''
For awhile, however, it didn't look as if Kannarkat would get to play today. The combination of her own nervousness and Fowler's strong play left Kannarkat in deep trouble after the first set.
``I got broken in the first game and I just tightened up after that,'' Kannarkat said. ``But once that set was over, I told myself that I had a clean slate, to just start over. I got going and my momentum carried on.''
Kannarkat's momentum continued in her match against Andrews, the Northern Region runner-up who reached the semifinals on a rare default call against North Stafford's Julia Micheal.
After losing a game to go down 5-4, in the third set, Micheal smashed a ball into the ground and was assessed a game penalty for ball abuse. by CNB