By Terry Miller
Greene County News
FAIRBORN — The annual Fairborn Parks and Recreation Tennis League is at the halfway point with 72 players competing.
In the Singles Division A League, there are two groups divided into eight players each. The top three players in each group will advance to mini-tournament play to determine the champion.
In group 1, Rodolfo Burguera, the past four-time champion, is once again off to an undefeated start beating another undefeated player, future Wright State player, Jason Holloway in a very tough match, but Rodolfo won the key points to win both sets 6-2, 6-2. He also beat a Centerville H.S. player, Jaewoo Choi 6-0, 6-3.
In other scores: Shannon Young, a former player for the ladies team at the U.S. Air Force Academy, is undefeated after beating Eric Lipowicz 6-3, 6-1; Matt Masters beat Corey Kondash 6-1, 6-2; Jesse Holloway dominated Kevin Stevens 6-1, 6-1; Jason Holloway beat Jaewoo Choi 6-0, 6-1; Jon Long, now playing at Heidelberg, beat Lipowicz 7-6(7-5), 6-2; and Jesse Holloway beat Cedarville U’s Rosie Thompson 6-0, 6-2. Fairborn High’s no. 1 player, Nhat Mai, had to drop out due to injury.
There is a little more fun to the Division B matches, with 18 players in two groups. There will be a playoff for the champion in this Division also. Ilya Vitebskiy, of Beavercreek by way of Russia, is off to an undefeated start dominating play with a variety of spins throwing opponents off their game. He gave Terry Miller his first loss winning 6-1, 6-0 and beating last year’s runner-up, Xenia Christian coach, Van Holloway, 6-2, 6-3. In other B scores: Van Holloway won over Corey Lam 6-2, 6-0; Xenia Christian player Eric Croucher defeated Kim Myers 6-1, 6-1; Fairborn HS girls no. 1 Brooklyn Hunter defeated Deanna Mullins 6-0, 6-0; Todd Mullins is also undefeated after beating Brendan Blankenship 6-0, 6-1; Penny Steinbrunner, a long-time player, gave her all in her match with Blankenship and fractured her ankle. She will be out for the rest of the season and will be greatly missed. Steinbrunner had beat Paige Murray 6-0, 6-0.
In Doubles action, there have been a lot of close matches with many teams splitting sets. In Division A league action, there are nine teams. In some of the best matches the father-son team of Jinsob and Jaewoo Choi split with Jason Holloway/Rosie Thompson 6-3, 1-6. The team of James White/Wes Biles also had a long match that went back and forth with Shannon Young/Curtis Guthrie with identical scores of 7-5, 5-7. The Chu brothers (Dan and T.C.), won over Kevin Stevens/Zach Henderson in a close match 6-4, 6-4. Last year’s champions of Harry Bromer/Long beat White/Biles 6-2, 7-5; Ja. Holloway/R. Thompson won over Jon Webb/Jeff Woelfer 6-2,6-1.
In Division B action, the Fairborn team and past champions, Jennifer Beard and Jenny Klump are off to an undefeated start winning some close ones. They beat the team of Terry Miller/Doug Coy in a very close match winning the key points to come back to win 6-4, 6-4; and they defeated a good husband/wife team of Jack and Linda Bednar 6-2, 6-3. The father/son team of Steve Neff Sr./Jr. is off to another good start winning another close match over Miller/Coy 6-1, 7-5; Vitebskiy/Teresa Shim over T.J. Hughes/Thomas Marra 6-2, 6-3; Kim Myers/Briana Moore split with Bobbi Beard/Corey Lam 6-3, then losing 7-6; Bednars defeated Pete Wallace/Laura Friend 6-2, 6-2; Miller/Coy downed B. Beard/Lam 6-2, 6-3.
There will be no matches over the July Fourth holiday. Play will resume on Monday, July 11 and Wednesday, July 13. The Singles matches are played on Monday evenings at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., and doubles matches are played on Wednesday evenings at the same times. Most matches are played at the Community Park tennis courts next to the high school, but there are so many singles players that matches are also played at Wedgewood Park and Rona Hills Park.
