THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610190505
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 38 lines
The Lafayette tennis team made things interesting for the Cox girls in Friday afternoon's Eastern Regional at Owl Creek, but not as interesting as it could have been.
When the Falcons' 3, 4 and 5 singles players ripped through their matches losing only two games among them, it looked like another Cox rout. Cox came into the day 114-1 in team singles and doubles and had beaten the Peninsula District champion Rams 9-0 in a scrimmage earlier in the season.
And while Cox won 9-0 again, this one wasn't as easy as the first. Kristin Moran, Ashby Moran and Shannan Gormley, the Falcons 1, 2 and 6 players, all split sets, the toughest challenge Beach District champion Cox has faced in a dual this year.
``This could be interesting,'' Cox coach Liane Long said as she watched Kristin Moran lose patience with Scottie Howard's moonballs. ``We could actually end up playing a doubles match that means something.''
It wasn't to be. Moran wore down Howard 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; her sister Ashby outlasted Jessica Rackley 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4; and Gormley rallied to beat June Blanks 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. The victories secured the first regional title for the Falcons since 1992 and gives them the chance to host the Northern Region runner-up in the Group AAA state championship beginning Oct. 29.
``This was a wakeup call,'' Gormley said. ``It gets us ready for the tougher level of competition.'' '
Ashby Moran and Gormely were still on the court while their three victorious teammates, Adrienne Byrne, Andrea Bussey and Elizabeth Hamlet, had been resting for 90 minutes. Kristin and Ashby beat their opponents five seconds apart, and went down to watch Gormley finish off Blanks.
``This helps their mental toughness,'' Long said. ``We got what we wanted. Tough matches and the W's to go with them.'' by CNB