Thursday, June 05, 2008
Young blood on tennis courts
SHAOZHUO CUI | The Roanoke Times
Freshman Patrick O'Keefe hopes to add a state championship to go with his and Region IV single titles today at Radford University.
Watching television wasn't even a remote possibility for Patrick O'Keefe as a young tadpole.
When mom, Chris, and dad, Mike, were playing tennis or conducting a clinic, Patrick and younger brother Harrison accompanied them to the courts.
"They weren't allowed to watch TV, so they had to come along," Chris O'Keefe said.
Today, O'Keefe will play for a spot in the VHSL Group AA championship match when the Salem freshman faces Dominik Lehmann of Rockbridge County in a 9 a.m. semifinal at Radford University.
If more youngsters in the Roanoke Valley continue to follow the O'Keefe formula, one thing is certain:
SpongeBob SquarePants, your TV ratings are about to go down.
Roanoke tennis is in the midst of a youth movement. Freshmen have had an impact in 2008.
O'Keefe, all of 105 pounds, won the Region IV title and has just one loss this season.
Region IV girls champion Kristin Harter of Hidden Valley also is a freshman.
Salem's No. 2 singles player, Will Drougas, is a ninth-grader. So is Hidden Valley's No. 1 man, Sammy Schwartz. Cave Spring's Tallman McBride, who teamed with Ryan Davis to reach the Region IV doubles final, is a freshman. Likewise for Hidden Valley's No. 4, Nick Barker.
Region C girls champion Alyssa Wingate of Grayson County is a sophomore.
North Cross eighth-grader Lara Min also played No. 1.
The top of Timesland tennis is getting younger and younger, particularly in the Star City.
"We've got a bunch of 6th- and 7th-graders coming up," Chris O'Keefe said. "I think it's going to continue for a while."
She should know. A former No. 1 player at Radford University and an assistant tennis pro at Roanoke Country Club since 1989, O'Keefe has helped develop many juniors in the Roanoke Valley.
The same goes for other area teaching pros: John Barker at Hunting Hills, Mike Johnson at Countryside, Tom Gibbs at Hidden Valley, Ravi Anantaraman of Sun Tennis and Roanoke Country Club head pro Saber Kadiri.
Expertise has meshed with eagerness to form potential champions.
"It's not hard at all to get these kids to work hard," O'Keefe said. "They're all into it. They hit with each other all the time. They all get along great together."
Patrick O'Keefe, who ended 2007 ranked No. 11 in 14-under singles in the Mid-Atlantic section, is out for a rare distinction -- winning a VHSL tennis title as a freshman. He enters today's match on a high note after his regional championship win over Davis, who will play next year at Hampden-Sydney.
"He played the best I've ever seen him play," Chris O'Keefe said.
Lark Rawlings, whose husband, Fred, was the long-time head pro at Roanoke Country Club until his death in 2006, knows he would be happy to see the success Roanoke's young players are enjoying.
"Fred worked with Patrick from the time Patrick picked up a racket," she said. "Fred talked for so long about how proud he was of these kids and how hard they worked."
Two other Timesland players chasing state titles are newcomers but are not freshmen.
Patrick Henry's Monte Tiller meets Ian Fraser of Frank Cox in a Group AAA quarterfinal at Jefferson District Park in Falls Church. Tiller, a Liberty University signee who transferred from Faith Christian, is in his first year of high school tennis.
O'Keefe's opponent today -- Lehmann -- is an exchange student from Leipzig, Germany who has lost just two sets.
"There's not a lot I can do for this guy," said Rockbridge County coach Bill Oliver, a English professor at VMI and Washington and Lee. "He's been playing since he was 8 and he's had a personal coach since he was 12.
"He's a great kid, though. There's not a bit of a head case or prima donna in him."
The 5-foot-8, 135-pound Lehmann is resilient. He trailed Jefferson Forest's Josh Ranowsky 4-2, 30-0 in the third set of the Region III final before rallying to win the set 7-5.
Lehmann will return to Germany for two more years of school. His goal is to play college tennis in the U.S.
"The coaches at W&L believe he's good enough to play Division I," Oliver said. "They're not recruiting him because they think he's at a higher level."
Wingate plays John Battle's Emerald Lauzon today in her first Group A semifinal.
Radford's Malik Mubeen, a semifinalist for the third straight year, Mubeen faces Chad Sheppard of Gate City.
