THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160437
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Lakeland's Mary Donnan Debranski, who opened the Bay Rivers District season as not even the best tennis player on her own team, closed it Monday as the best player in the entire league.
The third-seeded Debranski outdueled good friend and teammate Angela Jones, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, in a nervously contested district girls singles final at Howard Mast Tennis Complex.
The loss was the first in 11 singles matches for Jones, a junior and the Cavaliers' No. 3 player. Debranski, a senior who played Lakeland's first match at second singles before vaulting into the top slot, improved to 9-2.
Both players qualified for the Group AA, Region I tournament Monday, also at the Mast Complex.
It marked the second time in three years one Cavalier has beaten another for the district singles title. Terri Pringle ousted Jennifer Riddick in the championship match in 1993.
It's a trend Debranski and Jones wouldn't mind doing without. The two players are not only teammates in tennis, but also played together in basketball and volleyball and were clearly uncomfortable with the idea of going head-to-head.
``I know what she does, but I don't like playing her,'' Debranski said.
That attitude manifested itself in both players' tennis Monday, which was often tentative and, in Debranski's words, ``a little sloppy.''
Jones got off to a good start by breaking her teammate to open the match, but Debranski rattled off the next four games and won the set going away.
In the second set, however, Jones refused to take Debranski's bait, answering the senior's short, soft shots with even softer replies and inducing Debranski to err.
``I was getting very frustrated,'' Debranski said.
Debranski eliminated the loose shots in the third set, however, and the match reverted to its first-set form.
The level of tennis was much higher from both players Saturday, when the two Cavaliers engineered major upsets. Debranski upended second-seeded Laura Schrempf of Poquoson in three sets. During the regular season, the Poquoson star had beaten Debranski, 6-1, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Jones evicted top-seeded Winston Forbes, 7-5, 6-2.
In the doubles final, Forbes and Traci Shirley rallied to defeat Debranski and Kelly Lewis, 3-6, 7-6, 7-3. The Lakeland duo held 5-3 leads in each of the final two sets.
York's Carl Maymi took the boys title with a straight-sets victory over brother Sean. The Maymi-Maymi team took the doubles title over Poquoson's David Lopez and Mo Kaiser.
In the third-place match, Forbes whipped Schrempf, 6-1, 6-2. by CNB