DATE: Wednesday, September 17, 1997         TAG: 9709170642

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SNAPSHOT 

SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   45 lines

PRICE IS RIGHT FOR THREE MAURY TENNIS SISTERS

Don't discount the Maury High tennis team just because it's half Price.

That would be Brett Price at No. 2 singles, younger sis Whitney at No. 4 and youngest sis Blair at No. 6.

When they play their matches, ``Blair is right behind me,'' Whitney says. ``There's a triangle between the three of us. If I'm done first, I check to make sure they're up.''

The Prices favor each other only slightly and their games bear almost no resemblance. Brunette Brett, 17, is jewelry clad, a self-proclaimed wild child whose strokes are anything but. She's a consistent shotmaker, whereas Whitney, 16, a perfectionist otherwise, goes for broke, admittedly lacking the patience of a baseliner. Blair, 15, lighthaired like Whitney but distinguished by bold black spectacles, is the artist of spin, slice and sarcasm.

``If you'd put the three of us together, we'd be amazing,'' Blair says. ``We'd be Maury Hingis.''

The fall is the only time you'll find the Price club, which led Maury to a 9-0 win over Norcom Tuesday, on the same team. In the spring Brett plays lacrosse; Whitney and Blair play soccer. Mom and Dad have to scramble when watching their daughters.

``We tend to wander around,'' Phil Price says.

Offcourt they are best buds who share everything from colorful bloomers - ``Our nickname is the pretty panty Prices,'' Brett says - to the nitty gritty of the match they just played. Something they rarely share is the same side of the court unless injury forces them into a doubles combination.

Brett and Whitney teamed to win a doubles bracket in the Newport News Open a few years ago.

``We complemented each other really well,'' Brett says, ``and if we hadn't been sisters . . .''

``I just remember every match we played there'd be a period when we wouldn't be talking to each other,'' Whitney says. ``There'd be some kind of argument. Then we'd say, `Let's get it together,' but we'd end up not speaking again.'' ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Sisters Blair, left, and Brett Price are two of the three Prices

that fill half the singles slots on the Maury girls tennis team.

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