THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070580
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 37 lines
Cox's top two players and Tallwood's No. 1 doubles team will try to prevent Mills Godwin from making another clean sweep of boys tennis state titles beginning today when the Group AAA state singles and doubles tournaments begin at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center.
Ryan Davidson, the Falcons' No. 1 player and the Eastern Region champion, will open against Northwest runner-up David Terrill of Woodbridge. Cox No. 2 Nathan Shanks will face Northwest champion Mike Hendrickson of E.C. Glass.
Cox's Sean White was the last South Hampton Roads' player to take the state singles crown. White won in 1989 and 1990.
In the doubles tournament, Eastern Region champs Davidson and Shanks and regional runners-up Ryan and Ramel Baustista will also open against the Northwest Region's top teams.
But any first-round victories by Eastern Region competitors would likely land them semifinal encounters against opponents from powerful Mills Godwin. The Central Region champion Eagles, considered to be one of the best high school tennis teams in Virginia history, won state team, singles and doubles titles last year. Last week, they completed their second straight 19-0 season with an 8-1 victory over E.C. Glass to win their third state team title in the last four years.
And today, they'll have No. 1 Aljosa Piric and No. 2 Ian Boettcher competing in the eight-player state singles draw. Piric defeated Boettcher in last year's state final. It was the second straight time Boettcher finished No. 2 in the state.
Boettcher and Piric then teamed to take the state doubles title.
First-round singles action begins at 9 a.m., with the semifinals set for noon. The doubles first round will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, the singles final starts at 9 a.m., followed by the doubles semifinals at noon and the final at 3 p.m. by CNB