Godwin girls take third straight state tennis title

NEWPORT NEWS -- Twice in one week, Michelle Akerman has been center stage in a Mills Godwin girls tennis match in the Virginia High School League Group AAA team tournament.

Akerman, a junior playing her first season with the Eagles, needed three sets to provide the crucial fourth point in singles last Tuesday in a quarterfinal victory over Northern Region runner-up George Marshall.

She delivered again in the state final against Northern champion Thomas Jefferson Science & Technology of Alexandria yesterday at Huntington Park. Akerman won in three sets to give the Eagles a 4-2 lead after singles, then the No. 3 doubles team of Mary Francis Dudley and Kate Larsen scored the clinching point, just as they did last Tuesday, for a 5-2 Godwin victory.

The Eagles, appearing in their eighth consecutive championship match, beat TJ for the second year in a row and won their third consecutive title. Mills Godwin has won eight state team titles. Six have come in the past eight years. The Eagles finished 21-0 and haven't lost since a midseason Colonial District match with Deep Run in 2007.

"Last year, we had everybody back [from the 2007 winners] and pretty much expected to win," coach Mark Seidenberg said. "We only returned three players this year, but they got better from last year to this and gave us a shot. We knew we would have to beat three very good teams to win, and we did."

Mills Godwin's semifinal victory Friday came over Eastern Region champion Frank Cox, the school that won state titles in 2005 and 2006.

TJ won its points in the first two singles. Mills Godwin got straight-sets points from Dudley at No. 3 and Jessica Kocen at No. 6. Maddie Wood picked up the third point in three sets. The Godwin contingent moved to watch Akerman, who lost the first set 1-6 to Jennifer Fang. She was down in the second but rallied to win. She had match point in the third, but Fang came back. Both put on a pressure-packed show of extraordinary shots.

The set went to a tiebreaker. Akerman captured the first four points with three winners and a Fang miss and won 7-4.

"My teammates were telling me I need the limelight. That's why I lose a set," Akerman said. "I guess I do. I felt like I was the aggressor. She was waiting for me to mess up. I really went for my shots, and it feels good to be rewarded. I was worried I'd do something wrong, and we wouldn't win."

Dudley and Larsen, whose sister Annie scored the clinching point in last year's victory, weren't at the top of their game, but "our coaches helped us a lot, and it paid off," Larsen said. "We started to make the points our advantage."

Said Dudley, "We started to realize we were winning our points at the net. The only way to win was by being aggressive."

Dudley, the only senior in the starting lineup, concluded her high school career with three district, four region and three state titles.

"We always talk about banners [for winning]," Seidenberg said. "We are fortunate to play for banners and be successful."

Singles: Natalie Kirchner (TJ) d. Nicole Parker 6-3, 6-4; Nora Lam (TJ) d. Meg Kristofak 6-4, 6-3; Mary Frances Dudley (MG) d. Stephanie Pao 6-3, 6-1; Michelle Akerman (MG) d. Jennifer Fang 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); Maddie Wood (MG) d. Joyce Chung 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Jessica Kocen (MG) d. Allison Smedberg 7-5, 6-1

Doubles: Parker-Akerman vs. Kirchner-Lam, dnf; Kristofak-Haley Moses vs. Pao-Fang, dnf; Dudley-Kate Larsen (MG) d. Chung-Stefani Karp 6-4, 6-4