Thursday, April 24, 1997

Regional tennis competition

Spearman player dominates tournament

Even playing what she called "pretty well" with a sore elbow, Spearman's Kristen Beedy was almost untouchable Wednesday in the Region I-2A tennis tournament at Abilene Christian University.

Beedy, who won the Class 2A girls state singles championship a year ago as a freshman, rolled to three consecutive wins to reach today's championship match. Two of her three wins were 6-0, 6-0, including a semifinal win over Coahoma's Cassie Tindol.

In the championship match, she will take on the player she beat in last year's regional final as well as the state final, second-seeded MaKenzie McCravey, a junior from Eldorado.

"I've been playing pretty well," Beedy said while holding an ice bag to her elbow, which began giving her trouble last weekend. "For the most part, I served pretty well. Every girl I played today, I had to play pretty well to come out on top."

Because of the threat of rain in the forecast for today, matches in each division were played through the semifinals Wednesday instead of the quarterfinals.

Today's finals are set for 10 a.m. If rain interferes with play, the finals may be moved indoors to Fairway Oaks Country Club starting at noon. -- MARK WILSON

Wylie netters post wins

ODESSA - Defending state champions Parker Briley of Wylie and Sarah Everett of Breckenridge each posted two easy wins Wednesday in the Region I-3A tennis tournament at Odessa College.

Briley won his matches 6-1, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-0 while Everett dropped only two games in two matches as both advanced to today's semifinals.

The Bulldog boys doubles team of Travis Adams and Tim Kute advanced to the semis with a pair of straight-set victories.

Other Wylie players weren't as fortunate. The Lady Bulldog teams of Sunny Wu-Shlvawn Bilberry and Erin Moore-Kendal Osborn won their first-round matches, but each team was beaten in the second round.

Menard scores upset

On a day when nearly all of the seeds held true to form, Wednesday's last match of the Region II-A tennis tournament provided the biggest upset.

Menard's doubles team of James Williamson and Kelly Jennings upset top-ranked Michael Gonzales and Chad Robertson of Irion County, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to earn a berth in today's semifinals at Hardin-Simmons University's Streich Tennis Center.

The semifinals in all matches will begin at 9 a.m. with the finals scheduled to start at noon.

Of the 16 seeds in the boys and girls singles and doubles, only Gonzales and Robertson failed to earn a berth in the semifinals. They reached the second round with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Travis Kerbow and Mike Parker of Baird.

Gonzales and Robertson trailed 5-4 in the second before rallying to win and set up the second-round showdown.

But they were upended by an unseeded team that featured a hard-hitting freshman (Williamson) and a junior (Jennings) making his first trip to the regional tournament.

That inexperience showed in the second set of the quarterfinal match when the Menard duo lost 6-2 after winning the first set 6-4. Williamson lost his serve in the second, and both players made several unforced errors to force a third set.

"I guess the pressure just got to us in the second set," Jennings said. "I can't think of anything else that might have happened."

Robertson and Gonzales then took a 4-3 lead in the third set before Jennings got the set tied at 4-4 on his serve. Gonzales then lost his serve to give the Menard duo a 5-4 lead.

Serving at 5-4, Williamson quickly put his team up 40-15 before losing his powerful first serve. With the pressure on him to just get the second serve in, the Irion County pair rallied to force a deuce on an unforced error by Williamson.

After three deuces and four forced second serves, Jennings finally ended the match when he put away a lob for to win the set and the match.

"I think we just got a little bit overconfident in the second set," Williamson said. "They capitalized on our mistakes, and I just lost my serve in the second. But we just wanted to regain our momentum in the third set, keep the ball in play and put it away when we had the chance."

Other than that upset, the other three No. 1 seeds moved through without too much trouble.

Irion County's D.J. Rainey (No. 1 seed in boys singles) won both his matches in straight sets, as did the No. 1-ranked girls doubles duo of Marcy Mauldin and April Mohler of Irion County.

The only No. 1 seed who had any trouble was Menard's Kami Williamson in girls singles. Williamson, the older sister of James Williamson, won her first match, 6-0, 6-0, but needed three sets to knock off Traci Berend of Windthorst, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0. -- LANCE FLEMING