Tennis Topics
Published: May 20 2009, Richmond Tennis Association website
Parker edges Koontz for third Central Region singles title
by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer
Kyle Parker was determined to win the Central Region boys singles championship in his final attempt.
The senior at Mills Godwin High School, who had captured the title as a freshman and again last year as a junior, wanted to go out on top for the third time in four years.
But Hunter Koontz of Deep Run, Parker's chief rival this spring on the high-school circuit, was seeking his first regional crown, and the sophomore wasn't going down without a fight.
It took nearly 21/2 hours and a ton of winners and mistakes from each player before Parker finally prevailed 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 today at James River High School.
"It was back and forth the whole time," said Parker, who was forced to erase four match points in the 10th game of the second set. "I was barely able to hang on ... by a thread."
This was the fourth time these two have played this year and Parker has won each time, including the Colonial District tournament final last week that went three sets.
"This is the closest match we've had," said Koontz, who was bothered by a blister on his foot that seemed to affect his play at times.
In the girls final at Mills Godwin, Emily Hahn of Douglas Freeman overcame a slow start to beat Yasmin Fotovat of Atlee 6-4, 6-1. Hahn, who trailed 4-3 in the opening set before getting untracked, improved her record this spring to 15-0.
Neither Parker nor Koontz could find a consistent groove with their ground strokes. Consequently, no one took charge. Koontz pulled out the first set when Parker sent a forehand wide to lose his serve in the 12th game.
Parker, who is heading for the College of Charleston this fall, took a 3-0 lead in the second set but quickly gave it away. Before he realized what was happening, Parker found himself behind 5-4 and love-40 on his serve in the 10th game.
"I'm not sure I even knew I was down 5-4." Parker said. "When I got down 40-love, I hit one hard serve, just to see what happens, and got it in. Then I did it three more times and that helped me a lot. I think I hit an overhead, which is really scary because that's not my strongest point right now."
Parker nailed a pair of service winners and the overhead to get back to deuce, then saved another match point with a service winner before winning the game after three deuces. Parker broke Koontz' delivery to assume a 6-5 edge and served out the set.
"He hit a couple big serves," said Koontz. "Guess I let up a little bit and didn't finish him off. It was good for him but kind of sad for me."
Following a 10-minute break, the third set followed a similar pattern as the first two. Parker managed to take a 4-2 advantage, only to have Koontz battle back to tie it. Parker broke Koontz in the ninth game after three deuces to go up 5-4.
Koontz canceled one match point in the next game, but Parker ended it on the next one with a sizzling backhand winner into the corner.
"I felt like I couldn't return his serve in the third set," said Koontz. "He started cranking them up and there wasn't much I could do."
Koontz said he got the blister on his foot after playing three matches on Tuesday.
"Just wear and tear," he said. "It didn't really bother me. It was just the bottom of my foot. He ran me so hard anyway."
Parker said the sun shining in the players' eyes when they served accounted for so many unforced errors.
"Both of us were complaining about the sun, because we couldn't see," said Parker. "Every time we served, there was about 20 more dots in our eyes when we came back down to hit a ground stroke. His inside-out forehand was killing me, too."
In spite of the problems, Parker was able to emerge victorious once again.
"Came in as a freshman and won it," he said. "Lost as a sophomore. Won as a junior and now won as a senior. Still wish I could play my sophomore match again. Philip Parrish [of Douglas Freeman]. First and only time he beat me."
Both Parker and Koontz qualified for the Group AAA individual tournament early next month in Newport News. Each of their school teams will be involved in the Group AAA team competition that begins on Tuesday.
As for choosing the College of Charleston, Parker said, "[Former city champion] Jay Bruner is the coach down there. It's like a cycle going on. He used to be my old coach and my dad [Eddie Parker] coached him. Now he's going to coach me again."
Parker added the doubles title to his collection when he teamed with Kevin McMillen to defeat Koontz and Evan Charles of Deep Run 6-2, 6-3.
The girls doubles crown went to Hahn and Elena Rusu, who edged Fotovat and Shao-Ching Tu 6-1, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3.