AFNORTH players sparkle in
DOODS-Europe tennis championships
Stars and Stripes
Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes
Top seed Oliver Steil returns a shot during his semifinal win over Evan Hegarty of
Bamberg, Saturday. Steil later captured the DODDS boys' tennis crown with a win over David
Jackson of Bad Aibling. |
WIESBADEN, Germany — One year later, he’s Steil the champ.
Oliver Steil, the defending singles titlist, finished off an AFNORTH march through the
DODDS-Europe tennis championships by downing Bad Aibling’s David Jackson, the No. 2
seed, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Steil’s plaque, however, will have to compete for space with those of three other
teammates in the AFNORTH trophy case, since the Lions also won the girls’ singles and
the boys’ doubles Saturday.
Second-seeded Jessica Blaesche of AFNORTH rolled through Saturday’s foes, downing
Zoe Hili of American Overseas School of Rome 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals and 1999 champion
Necat Akman of Izmir 6-0, 6-2 in the championship match. It was the second straight year
Akman, a junior, had endured a title-match beating. After winning the singles as a
freshman in 1999, she lost to Sylvia Gugliemi of AOSR last year.
Not to be outdone by his sister, AFNORTH’s Benjamin Blaesche teamed with David
Novotny to claim the boys’ crown 6-1, 6-3 over top-seeded Miki Sokolovsky and
Alexander Henes of the International School of Brussels. Blaesche and Novotny, seeded
third, were coming off a tough semifinal conquest of Bitburg’s Josh Sparkman and Ryan
Warner, the No. 2 seed, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 Saturday morning.
The only players who don’t attend classes in Brunssum, the Netherlands, to walk
off with titles had done so before.
Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes
AFNORTH's Jessica Blaesche sends a return over the net in her semifinal win over American
Overseas School of Rome's Zoe Hili on Saturday. Blaesche won the final, too, beating Necat
Akman of Izmir 6-0, 6-2. |
Defending champions Alison Pienta and Vanessa Cruz of Heidelberg, seeded third after
placing third in the Division I meet the previous week, beat Cherita Murray and Denise
Ellis of Ramstein 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in Saturday morning’s semis, then relegated teammates
Diana Dull and Katie Meagher, the Division I champions, to second place with a 6-4, 6-2
victory in the title match.
"It was less fun playing them than someone in the finals," Cruz said.
"We’re all friends and we play each other all the time. We both wanted to win,
and we’re both winners."
Cruz said she and Pienta were convinced they would win, despite the false step in
divisional play.
"We were determined from the beginning," Cruz said. "We knew we could do
it. We knew all we had to do was hit the ball and get it over the net. It’s just a
question of racket and ball."
They became even more convinced after they dispatched Murray and Ellis in semis, a
match Cruz called their toughest of this two-day event.
"We lost to them at divisionals and were really pumped up to play them
again," Cruz said. "We knew how they played."
As seniors, Cruz and Pienta won’t be playing varsity tennis again, making the
second title special.
"It’s a nice way to go out," Cruz said.
DODDS-Europe tennis championships
Saturday at Wiesbaden, Germany
Boys' singles
Semifinals
Oliver Steil (AFNORTH) (1) def. Evan Hegarty (Bamberg) 6-0, 6-0; David Jackson (Bad
Aibling) (2) def. Pawel Wasiukiewicz (Ankara) (6) 6-4, 6-1.
Championship
Steil def. Jackson 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Third place
Hegarty def. Wasiukiewicz 6-1, 6-2.
Fifth place
Cheon Hyun Nam (International School of Brussels) (7) def. John Mackey (Heidelberg) (5)
8-5.
Boys' doubles
Semifinals
Miki Sokolovsky and Alexander Henes (ISB) (1) def. Stefan Von Hendy and Braden Eggerl
(Bad Aibling) 6-3, 6-1; Benjamin Blaesche and David Novotny (AFNORTH) (4) def. Josh
Sparkman and Ryan Warner (Bitburg) (2) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Championship
Blaesche and Novotny def. Sokolovsky and Henes 6-3, 6-1.
Third place
Sparkman and Warner def. Von Hendy and Eggerl 8-3.
Fifth place
Danny Liu and Nazih Mergoum (Ankara) (6) def. Jon Brownfield and Rae Wilson (Heid) 8-5.
Girls' singles
Semifinals
Necat Akman (Izmir) (1) def. Kim Kirkhum (Giessen) (4) 6-3, 6-2; Jessica Blaesche
(AFNORTH) (2) def. Zoe Hili (American Overseas School of Rome (6) 6-1, 6-2.
Championship
Blaesche def. Akman 6-0, 6-2.
Third place
Kirkhum def. Hili 9-7.
Fifth place
Beth Macintire (Hohenfels) def. Leona Siliga (Giessen) 8-3.
Girls' doubles
Semifinals
Katie Meagher and Diana Dull (Heid) (1) def. Miriam Butzke and Carmen De La Plaza 7-5,
3-6, 6-4; Alison Pienta and Vanessa Cruz (Heid) (3) def. Cherita Murray and Denise Ellis
(Ramstein) (2) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Championship
Pienta and Cruz def. Dull and Meagher 6-4, 6-2.
Third place
Butzke and De La Plaza def. Murray and Ellis, 8-4.
Fifth place
Leah Welsh and Janice Reinold (ISB) def. Christina Romangoli and Ana Lohmer (Wiesbaden)
8-6.
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