Pappas Gets Spot in Tennis Finals

By Matt McFarland

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Loudoun Valley’s Kiersten Pappas and South County’s Michelle Nguyen both entered the Virginia AAA tennis singles semifinals undefeated.

When their match was over yesterday, an energetic Pappas walked off the court at Jefferson District Park, having secured a spot in today’s final. Nguyen, grimacing in pain, limped off with cramps that had spread to most of her body and forced her to retire.

“It’s tough knowing your opponent can’t move,” said Pappas, a 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 2-0 winner. “You just have to stay focused on your side of the net.”

Nguyen had the match in control, having won the first set and leading the second 3-0, but Pappas rallied.

“I started to come back and felt really confident,” Pappas said. “I just sort of rolled with it.”

After Pappas played her way back into the match, Nguyen collapsed on the court with a cramp in her calf.

After being attended to by a trainer, Nguyen continued to play. But as she chased a drop shot later in the set, she cramped up again. After a trainer massaged her leg, Nguyen continued playing. The set went to a tiebreak, but Nguyen rarely attempted to return Pappas’s shots.

“I gave up the tiebreak just so I could get the 10-minute break,” Nguyen said.

After the break, Nguyen slowly limped back onto the court for the third set, with her racket in one hand and a bottle of Gatorade in the other.

By this point, Nguyen was so hobbled that she never came to the net and barely could move from the center of the baseline.

Meantime, Pappas — who stopped playing for Loudoun Valley’s basketball team this year to focus on tennis — moved with the same energy she’d displayed since the first game. “It kind of reminded me of boxing,” Pappas said of tennis. “You’re by yourself with another person.”

In the second game of the set, Nguyen acceded to her coach and parents’ wishes and retired. “There’s no excuses. I should of just cut if off and won faster,” Nguyen said. “I’ll have next year.”

On the boys’ side, Robinson’s Drew Courtney won twice. He beat Stonewall Jackson’s James Davis, 6-1, 6-3, in singles, and later he joined Stephen Hardy to beat Cox’s Ian Fraser and Cameron Brawley, 6-1, 6-0, in less than 45 minutes.

Today, Courtney will attempt to win the doubles title for the fourth straight year, the second straight year with Hardy. They’ll face Mills Godwin’s Kyle Parker and Kevin Calhoun, whom they defeated in last year’s final.

Fairfax’s Sidarth Balaji lost to Fraser, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 yesterday in the boys’ singles semis, a defeat that was foreshadowed in the first set when Balaji had two set points but lost both. Fraser, who screamed at himself after good points and bad, fed off the energy of the Cox cheering section.

If Courtney defeats Fraser today, he will have won the Virginia AAA singles title for the third straight year.

Langley’s Linden Li and Alyssa Shames advanced to today’s doubles final, beating Faith Atiso and Jenny Lee of Cox, 6-3, 6-4. They’ll face Mills Godwin’s Katie Blow and Nicole Parker, who defeated Fairfax’s Lauren Palmucci and Katie Montill, 6-2, 6-0.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks