LV Girls' Tennis Reaches State Semis

Vikings Cruise Past First Colonial in Leesburg

By Matt Brooks (Contact)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Loudoun Valley girls' tennis team is all too familiar with last-minute scheduling changes and long trips. All the rain this spring wreaked havoc on their regular-season schedule, and just last week they were forced to travel on back-to-back days for their AAA Northwest Region semifinal and championship matches.

So when Tuesday's AAA Virginia state tournament quarterfinal match against First Colonial was moved from the Vikings' home courts in Purcellville to the indoor courts at Ida Lee Tennis Center in Leesburg, the girls didn't mind sacrificing their home-court advantage: They were just excited to get on the courts and play.

"We've played here a lot, and personally, I like these courts better than our courts," said senior Kiersten Pappas, the Vikings' No. 1 singles player. "We got rained out a lot this year, so it's just nice to be able to play when it's raining outside."

Led by a sweep from their top three singles players and dominant performances from junior No. 4 Megan Music and senior No. 6 Ellie Burnett, the Vikings cruised past the Patriots, 5-1, and not a moment too soon.

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Loudoun Valley Girls' Tennis Win State Quarterfinal

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Loudoun Valley's Ellie Burnett, the Vikings' No. 6 singles player, defeated First Colonial's Katie Lynne Moncure to clinch the match. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Loudoun Valley lines up to shake hands with First Colonial after the Vikings completed a 5-1 win in their state quarterfinal match. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Loudoun Valley Coach Brooke Brown, right, and Ellie Burnett walk off the court after Burnett's victory clinched the state quarterfinal match for the Vikings. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Kiersten Pappas, Loudoun Valley's No. 1 singles player, drives to return a shot to First Colonial's Alex Ritter. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Julianna Jacangelo, Loudoun Valley's No. 2 singles player, returns a shot to First Colonial's Rachel Luke. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Kayla Sweet, the Vikings' No. 3 singles player, serves in her match against First Colonial's Jordan McEwen. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Loudoun Valley's Julianna Jacangelo during her match against First Colonial's Rachel Luke. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Loudoun Valley's Kiersten Pappas on her way to victory over First Colonial's Alex Ritter. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Because of the last-minute relocation and previously scheduled classes at Ida Lee, the two teams were given only three courts and just three hours for their match. That meant virtually no warmup time for players and if the match was not completed by 4 p.m., the two teams would reconvene at Valley on Wednesday morning, weather permitting, or return to the Ida Lee courts at 1 p.m. Burnett won the final point of her match to clinch at 3:45, just 15 minutes before the courts had to be turned over.

"It was definitely important to get it done today," said No. 2 singles Juliana Jacangelo, a junior. "We played four matches in four days last week, so that was really tiring. It'll be nice to actually get to practice and rest up a little before our next match."

Junior Kayla Sweet got things started for the Vikings at No. 3, blitzing Patriots' senior Jordan McEwen 6-2, 6-0 in just under an hour to give her team a 1-0 advantage. Pappas was next off the court with a 6-3, 6-3 win over sophomore Alex Ritter and Jacangelo closed out her 6-0, 6-4 victory over Rachel Luke shortly thereafter. Valley's top three broke the serve of their opponents a combined 14 times in six sets and were only broken once, setting the tone for the rest of the match.

Music blew by Raleigh Cowen at No. 4 with a 6-0, 6-2 victory to put the Vikings one win from clinching the match and just five games into the first set of the No. 1 doubles match, Burnett's overpowering crosscourt backhand finished off Katie Lynne Moncure, 6-2, 6-3, to send Valley into the state semifinals for the second consecutive season.

"Ellie played really well and so did Megan, and she came out firing last match, too," Jacangelo said.

Last year Valley fell in the semifinals, but this year's team is determined to take the next step. The Vikings will travel to Newport News tomorrow to take on Fairfax's Thomas Jefferson which defeated Deep Run, 5-1. That match will start at 9 a.m. The Colonials have beaten Valley twice in the past two years.

With a lineup that gained valuable experience in last year's tournament and picked up a few fresh faces this season, Vikings Coach Brooke Brown believes they are primed and motivated for a long run.

"A lot of the girls have really come into their own," Brown said. "My 4, 5 and 6 are new this year, they did not play top six last year - Ellie wasn't even on the team. It seems like the more competition we have, the better they play. Kiersten is amazing at No. 1, but her point counts the same as Ellie's at No. 6. And the girls really know that as a team, and they all want to win.

"They know where they were last year and they want to beat that. It's a big momentum push for them to be better and get farther than they did last year."

Note: Pappas won the AAA Northwest Region singles tournament and she and Jacangelo won the doubles tournament early last week. As a result, both with compete in the AAA Virginia state tournaments June 4-6 at Jefferson District Park in McLean. Singles play begins at 9 a.m. and doubles starts at 1 p.m., both on June 4.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks