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Five teen athletes advance to state tennis tournament

For two of the high school players, this marks the fourth year they've qualified. Match play begins Tuesday.

By DAWN REISS
Published April 25, 2005

	[Times photo: Ron Thompson]
	Crystal River High's Brian deMontfort will compete this week in the state tennis tournament in Tampa.

Five Citrus county athletes - Crystal River High School's Chris Lavoie and Brian deMontfort, Lecanto High's Shreya Rao and Sonia Shah, and Citrus High's Courtney Spafford - will compete in the state tennis tournament this week in Tampa. Individual seedings will be decided today starting at 6 p.m. at Mainsail Suites Hotel and Conference Center. Match play starts on Tuesday at Hillsborough Community College and ends Thursday.

Both Lavoie and Rao are four-time state qualifiers and will play No. 1 doubles with their respective partners. Lavoie also advanced in the No. 1 singles by winning the Class 2A, District 6 Tournament on Thursday. Spafford, a freshman, qualified by defeating Rao in the singles competition, rallying from a 5-1 set to win 7-5, 6-3. She revived her fledgling district match with strong defensive strategy and consistent patience. A conservative player with a strong first serve, Spafford likes to volley until the other player makes a mistake hit.

"Courtney can be a good offensive player, but doesn't go to it too often unless she has to," said Citrus coach Katie Hughes. "But she knows how to hit some great winners if the opportunity arises."

Spafford is 12-2 overall. Her losses came against Central's Jeanette McDonald, (6-1, 6-0) and Ocala Trinity High's Krysia Camino in a 3-8 pro set.

Rao and doubles partner Shah, a freshman, will go to state without their teammates. The Panthers had a chance to qualify as a team on the boys and girls side, but they failed, with the boys losing to Fleming Island on Friday 5-2 and the girls losing 7-0. Rao and Shah earned a berth by defeating Spafford and Asha Balakrishanan 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in a nearly three-hour battle.

avoie leads the Citrus County state-bound squad, having qualified for the state tournament four times in both the singles and doubles divisions. He has never advanced past the opening round in singles competition, but made it to the state semifinals with deMontfort last year before losing 6-1, 6-2 to Eunsik Jung and Jong Won Cha of Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons. All of Lavoie's (19-4) losses this season came against USTA ranked players: Land O'Lakes' Vu-Anh Thai, Central's John McDonald, and twice to Gainesville Buholtz's Ricky Weghorst.

"He is one of the best players Crystal River's ever had," Pirates coach Vicki Browning said.

Lavoie, who has several junior college scholarship offers to play tennis, is even stronger this year than last. A season on the football field - a first for Lavoie - gave him added staying power and mental focus. Couple that with deMontfort's improvement, which includes stronger serves, smarter play and more finesse, and this could be Lavoie's best chance, as well as his last, to go the distance at state.

"It's a tremendous feat in tennis just to make it to state, let alone win any matches," Browning said. "Just never count them out of anything."

--Dawn Reiss can be reached at 352 564-3628 or dreiss@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 25, 2005, 01:04:14]