THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996 TAG: 9606080283
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 50 lines
Getting angry when things go wrong in a tennis match doesn't always pay off, but Friday, Cox's Bobby Kalantar was glad he got mad after playing so bad.
A ticked-off Kalantar regained form after a disastrous first set and combined with Ryan Davidson for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over E.C. Glass' Kean Marks and David Baston in the Group AAA state doubles quarterfinals at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center.
``That first set was the worst tennis I've ever played,'' said Kalantar, the Falcons' No. 3 player who replaced the injured Nathan Shanks but showed up late and caused the Falcons to be penalized two games. ``I got so mad. But I knew Nathan and Ryan would have beaten these guys. I didn't want to let Ryan down.''
Shanks withdrew because of a shoulder injury which had forced him to serve underhanded throughout the tennis postseason.
The Falcons duo will meet defending state champions Ian Boettcher and Aljosa Piric of Mills Godwin in the semifinals today at noon. The other semifinal will pit Jamey Elliott and Andrew Vu of South Lakes against David Terrill and Jeff Gotherman of Woodbridge. Gotherman and Terrill eliminated Tallwood's Ramel and Ryan Bautista, 6-1, 6-1. The doubles final is scheduled for 3 p.m., which could be a problem for Cox as Kalantar needs to be at his graduation ceremony at 2:30 p.m.
``We'll cross that bridge when we get there,'' tournament director Bill Peachy said.
In today's 9 a.m. singles final, defending champion Piric will play Robinson freshman Ramez Qamer. Piric, the Central Region champion who has a 45-1 record over the past two years, advanced courtesy of a 6-3, 7-6 semifinals victory over Davidson.
``I had heard so much about (Piric) that I started off thinking I had to play better than I can,'' Davidson said after his defeat. ``But in the second set, I settled down and just played my game.''
Eastern Region champion Davidson, a sophomore, had opened the tournament with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Terrill.
Maury's Rob Brown, who finished third in the Eastern Region when Great Bridge's David Bristow defaulted the consolation singles match, replaced Shanks Friday and acquitted himself well in a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Northwest Region champion Mike Hendricksen.
Qamer, the Northern Region champion and the top-ranked boys 16s player in the Mid-Atlantic region, ousted two-time state runner-up Boettcher in straight sets in the first round, then outdueled Hendricksen in three sets in the semifinals.
Davidson and Hendricksen will play for third place today at 9 a.m. by CNB