DATE: Wednesday, May 21, 1997               TAG: 9705210724

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   57 lines

HOFFMAN CAPTURES ALL-MAURY FINAL

Hoffman and Brown.

It sounds like a law firm, but when these guys go to court it's a toss-up as to who will dictate. In Tuesday morning's Eastern Region tennis final, it was Ross Hoffman who came out on top, cruising by his Maury teammate Rob Brown 6-1, 6-2 at Owl Creek Municipal Center.

Both had already secured berths to the Class AAA state tournament June 6 at Woodbridge High School by advancing to the final, but Hoffman will go as a higher seed.

``I've beaten him a million times and he's beaten me a million times,'' Hoffman said. ``With Rob and I playing against each other, it's like two opponents closing their eyes and playing as hard as they can. I was very fortunate today.''

Fortunate maybe, flawless definitely. Brown had routed an error-prone Hoffman 6-3, 6-0 two weeks ago in the Eastern District final, but this time Brown made all the mistakes.

The Commodores junior failed to hold serve in the first set, winning his only game after breaking Hoffman at love three games in. That proved to be the only lapse Hoffman had in a match where he controlled most of the points from the baseline.

Brown is the more flamboyant of the two - a player who once climbed a fence in pursuit of a high ball. The two-time district champ did all the grunting, all the muttering and all the running in chasing down Hoffman's angles. Every time he'd abandon the baseline for his typical aggressive style at the net, Hoffman came up with one better shot. Sometimes it would be a clean pass but more than not the humidity and Hoffman's lobs wore down Brown.

At 4-1 in the second set, one of Hoffman's lobs sailed past the baseline, and Brown screamed out, ``About time!''

``He can frustrate a guy,'' Brown understated afterward.

Hoffman did not face a break point in the second set and kept his cool while Brown received a warning for one of his outbursts. Brown attempted to pump himself up when he held serve at 2-5, shouting `C'mon, win,' but Hoffman won the match game at 15 with another vintage lob.

``The big difference in this match and the last match is that I won the majority of the key points,'' Hoffman said. ``Most of the time it was 40-30 in a game and I don't remember losing but two of those.''

The past two years Hoffman lost in the first round of regionals, so he says winning an individual title never became a goal. Instead he focused on the team title, which Maury won last week with an 8-1 victory over Great Bridge.

``To captain a regional championship team, that was one of the greatest compliments you can have,'' he said. ``To know that all the work you put in and all the encouragement you gave your players, that the product of that is winning the region.''

Maury will host the first round of state competition next Tuesday, and Hoffman and Brown will represent the region in the individual competition beginning June 6. It's a daunting task, says Brown, who will likely play the top player from powerhouse Mills Godwin.

Hoffman doesn't know what to expect, but he admits state will be ``like going to a different planet.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu