THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 1995 TAG: 9505240647
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Western Branch's Frankie Graves rolled over Great Bridge's David Bristow, 6-1, 6-1, to become the first Eastern Region singles champion in school history Tuesday at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center.
Graves then teamed with Kurt Gilchrist and captured the regional doubles crown - another first for Western Branch - in another Southeastern District shootout over Bristow and Steve Breeden.
``It feels pretty nice to put your name in the record books,'' said Graves, the three-time district champion.
Both matches were reprises of the Southeastern District finals.
All finalists will advance to the Group AAA state tournament beginning June 9 at Douglas Freeman High School in Henrico County.
But as well as Graves played Tuesday, he'll need to crank his game up a couple notches to succeed at the state tourney. His first-round opponent will be Central Region runner-up Ian Boettcher of Mills Godwin, the No. 1 16s player in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Breeden has an even tougher task at state, where he'll face Central Region champion Aljosa Piric, also of Mills Godwin. Piric, the Eagles' top player, is one of three Bosnian players who joined an already powerful Mills Godwin team and have made the Eagles heavy favorites to win the state team title. The Eagles have yet to lose a match, singles or doubles, this season.
In doubles, Graves and Gilchrist will face Central Region runners-up Ryan Garton and Jae Kwan of Midlothian, while Breeden and Bristow meet Piric and fellow Bosnian Edin Terzimehic.
The singles final pitted Graves and Bristow against each other for the third time this season. Graves won the previous two, including a 6-1, 6-0 victory in the Southeastern District final. A bad back hampered Bristow in that one, but Tuesday his problem was too much Graves. The Bruins senior struck the ball with authority throughout and kept his man pinned on the baseline or scrambling on the defensive.
Bristow had chances to make things interesting early in the second set, but couldn't capitalize on a few game points.
``I kept the pressure on and he didn't win some big points there that could have made things a lot tougher for me,'' Graves said.
In the Region I girls tennis final, Lakeland swept five of the six singles matches and knocked off Poquoson, 8-1, to claim its third straight regional title Tuesday at the Howard Mast Tennis Complex in Suffolk.
The Cavaliers' eight victories all came in straight sets. Their lone defeat came at No. 1 singles, where Bay Rivers District champion Mary Donnan Debranski fell to Laura Schempf, 6-4, 6-1.
The victory put the Cavaliers into the Group AA state tournament May 31-June 1 at Poquoson, where Lakeland will be gunning for its second state crown in three years. Lakeland will meet the Region III champion in the first round.
In doubles, Debranski and Kelly Lewis recovered from a rocky first set to beat Franklin's Winston Forbes and Tracy Shirley, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, for the title.
The singles final between Debranski and teammate Angela Jones was postponed until today because of the Cavaliers' fatigue - Debranski played in seven matches and Jones in five in the past two days. They will meet at 2:45 p.m. at Lakeland. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, Staff
Western Branch's Frankie Graves returns shot by Great Bridge's David
Bristow Tuesday at Owl Creek in Virginia Beach.
by CNB