THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260593
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
First Colonial's Mily Kannarkat survived her stiffest challenge of the year and outdueled Tallwood's Leslie Beach, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to win the Eastern Region girls tennis title at Owl Creek Municipal Tennis Center.
The victory, Kannarkat's 21st without a defeat this season, made her the first freshman to win the regional title since First Colonial's Julie Shiflet in 1986.
``It feels great,'' Kannarkat said. ``To win this as a freshman is a great achievement.''
Both players will advance to the Group AAA state tournament Nov. 11-12 at Owl Creek. Kannarkat will open the eight-player tournament against Clover Hill sophomore Amy Fowler (14-1), the Central Region runner-up. Beach will face Central Region champion Jennie Ward (16-2) of defending state champion Mills Godwin in a battle of sophomores.
In the regional doubles final, Kannarkat and Anne Crenshaw routed Beach and Amy Zimmerman, 6-1, 6-0. The First Colonial duo will face Central Region runners-up Leah Morris and Whitney Shaw of Prince George in the Group AAA state doubles tournament Nov. 11 at Owl Creek, while Beach and Zimmerman will take on Central Region champions Ward and Kelly Smith.
Tuesday's regional singles final marked the third time Kannarkat has beaten Beach this season. Kannarkat has accounted for all of Beach's losses.
Still, Beach continued to close the gap between herself and the Patriots' freshman. The first time the players met, Kannarkat won, 6-0, 6-2. The next time, in the Beach District final, it was 6-4, 6-2.
And Tuesday, Beach opened the match what Tallwood coach David Weiss called ``her best set of the season,'' as she peppered Kannarkat with deep, heavy groundstrokes and kept her opponent on the defensive.
She just outplayed me,'' Kannarkat said. ``She made few mistakes and played great tennis.''
But Beach's play slipped slightly in the second set, and Kannarkat used her consistency and a few stinging volley to level the match.
Kannarkat then broke out to a 3-1 lead in the third set. Beach earned two break points to pull to 2-3, but made an unforced error and framed an overhead into the bottom of the net to let Kannarkat get back to deuce. Two Beach unforced errors later, Kannarkat had a 4-1 lead. by CNB