Hidden Valley's Durmaz rolls to state tennis championship

BLACKSBURG — Ceyda Durmaz, Hidden Valley High School tennis senior, has lost three sets during her varsity career. None were this week.

Durmaz powered her way through two worthy opponents in the Group AA singles semifinals and finals Thursday, finishing off with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Emily Kochard of Western Albemarle in the championship indoors at storm-lashed Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center at Virginia Tech.

After skipping her sophomore and junior years of high school tennis while working with private coaching, this is Durmaz’s first state high school title.

“It’s my senior year,” she said. “I wanted to come out and be more social. Plus, I definitely wanted to win state.”

That objective was made possible in part by a win in the semifinals over Northside junior Karlie Pope, who was at her best in the third match between the two this year but fell 6-2, 6-2.

After a runaway first set in the championship, Durmaz may have eased up some and lost a smidgen of focus in the second set against Kochard, a left-handed junior. Durmaz found what she needed when she needed it, though.

“I got a little tight,” she said. “I think the tightness came from seeing the finish line after the first set. I had a really straightforward first set and I was like ‘I can do this again.’ But I got a little tight when I saw the finish line.”

Durmaz is a powerful player with both forehand and backhand and also has a strong serve.

“She had a lot of putaway winners,” said Kochard, who is 21-2. “She hits the ball very hard. She’s a good player who mixes it up a lot. She gave me some hard shots and some slices. She had an all-around good day.”

Kochard, who advanced to the singles final by beating Leah Walter of Jamestown 6-0, 6-1, found some late success drawing Durmaz to the net with deft drops then nailing the point with a nice passing shot. Not much of anything else was working well for her. When it turned into a baseline game, Kochard couldn’t contend with Durmaz’s strength and accuracy.

Durmaz was playing with a tightly wrapped left thigh and had slipped on a wet spot from the leaky tennis center roof. She won the point on which she slipped — she did a gymnast’s split on the way down – but she didn’t offer so much as a peep of complaint. The leg was fine and Virginia Tech personnel did an excellent job of keeping the rain drops mopped up, she said.

The biggest issue Durmaz faced was the discovery that Kochard was a southpaw.

“I definitely had to re-strategize,” Durmaz said. “I had to swap everything from my usual game plan. Like instead of attacking to the backhand I had to attack to the forehand. I don’t think it was that difficult an adjustment because my serves were going out well really wide on the lefty side.”

Durmaz and Region III champ Pope had met twice previously this year, the first going 10-3 for Durmaz and the second 4-2, 4-0 in two sets of four.

“She places the ball really well and hits it hard so I was just trying to get the ball back, keep the ball in play as much as I could, and try to attack,” Pope said. “Some of my approach shots weren’t as good as I would have liked them to be. She’s a great hitter.”

Pope had most of her offensive success when she came to the net.

“I’ve been trying all year to be the aggressive player,” she said. “I knew I had to get up there some and take that risk. Staying back at the baseline, she would probably outhit me.”

Durmaz, whose plan is to walk onto the tennis team at William and Mary next year, said that was the best she’d seen Pope play.

“She really improved her backhand and attacking game,” Durmaz said. “That definitely gave me more trouble today than it did before. She’s a good player, very consistent. I knew I had to be consistent back.”

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