THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411130234
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
First Colonial's Mily Kannarkat saved her best tennis for her biggest match, and as a result, it wasn't much of a match at all.
The Patriots freshman capped a perfect season by dismantling Yorktown's Caryn Cuthbert, 6-2, 6-1, Saturday at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center to become the first freshman to win the state title since First Colonial's Julie Shiflet in 1986.
``I came into the match just hoping to play my best and see what happens,'' Kannarkat said. ``Once I started, everything seemed to be working. After awhile, it seemed like I couldn't miss.''
In the state doubles final, Kannarkat and Anne Crenshaw fell in three sets to Mills Godwin's Jennie Ward and Kelly Smith.
Kannarkat finished her season with a 26-0 singles record. Cuthbert, a junior and a state doubles finalist two years ago, fell to 16-1.
The match began promisingly for Cuthbert, who lost just one point in holding her serve to open the match. But Kannarkat - who was never broken Saturday - held, then broke Cuthbert to establish a lead she would never relinquish.
``When I broke her in that third game, that's when I knew I really had a chance to win the match,'' Kannarkat said.
The service break came in the midst of a five-game Kannarkat run in which she made just two unforced errors while jerking Cuthbert around the court.
Cuthbert finally held again to make it 5-2, then pulled to deuce in the following game. But Kannarkat smacked a forehand winner to get to set point, then closed it out when Cuthbert mistimed an overhead.
Any thoughts Cuthbert had about changing the momentum in the next set evaporated when Kannarkat drilled a running forehand service return winner to break Cuthbert in the opening game.
If Cuthbert, a powerful ground-stroker who lacks Kannarkat's mobility and variety of shots, made a tactical mistake, it was playing shots a bit too frequently to Kannarkat's most dangerous weapon, the forehand. On this day, however, it probably wouldn't have mattered what Cuthbert tried.
``(Mily) was awesome,'' First Colonial coach Sharon Conyers said.
In the third-place match, Mills Godwin's Ward topped West Springfield's Meaghan Andrews. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Mily Kannarkat became the first freshman to win the state tennis
title since Julie Shiflet in 1986.
by CNB