THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504280177
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
OSCAR SMITH HIGH School and the Greenbrier courts will be the site of the Southeastern District boys tennis tournament this week.
The four-day tournament commences Wednesday afternoon.
Singles matches will begin at 3 p.m. Wednesday at both Oscar Smith and Greenbrier. Doubles matches will start at the same two sites on Thursday.
All action will be at Oscar Smith on Friday and Saturday.
Seedings will be determined in a Monday meeting of coaches at 3:45 p.m. at Deep Creek. Deep Creek athletic director Carl Stone is tournament director.
Great Bridge swept through the regular season without a loss to gain the district's top team seed in the Eastern Region tournament. The tournament winner (or runner-up if Great Bridge wins) will get the No. 2 regional berth from the district.
Western Branch lost only to the Wildcats in district competition. Churchland, the third-place finisher, was beaten by Great Bridge and Western Branch.
Two individual spots and two doubles berths in the regional will be up for grabs.
Western Branch's Frankie Graves has won the singles title the past two years and rates as the top seed once again. He has not lost this year.
Graves, a senior, already has accepted an appointment to the Naval Academy and will play tennis for Navy.
Other top contenders for regional berths include Great Bridge's David Bristow and Steve Breeden and Churchland's Fransesco Michelon. Norcom's Michael Manning and Deep Creek's Neil Applewhite also are threats.
Graves and Breeden have met in the district finals for the past two years. In 1994 Graves prevailed, 6-4, 6-1.
In doubles last year Graves paired with Kwang Kim to beat Bristow and Breedon in the final, 6-3, 6-4. This year Graves is teamed with Kurt Gilchrist and the two are regarded as favorites.
The Southeastern is gunning for its first Eastern Region team crown since 1987. Western Branch won eight years ago.
All of the Southeastern District tournaments are scheduled in May.
The boys and girls soccer tournaments will be May 16 and May 18.
The district track meets for boys and girls will be on Friday and Saturday, May 19-20.
The district baseball and softball tournaments will have semifinal rounds on Tuesday, May 23 and the two title games on Wednesday, May 24. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Western Branch's Frankie Graves took the singles title the past two
years.
by CNB