West tennis player earns berth at regional
Originally published April 4, 2011 at 11:12 p.m., updated April 4, 2011 at 11:40 p.m.
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Victoria Keller talks about winning district
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Keller advances to regionals
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Keller avenges earlier season loss
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Keller talks about difference this time
Victoria Keller studied her opponent. She had seen Floresville's Brittany Aikens before, and the results were not pretty.
"I lost to her," she said. "I got really angry.
"It was nice to come back and actually win since she's really tough."
But that 7-5, 6-0 loss when they met in the fall had taught the junior at Victoria West how to beat Aikens.
"I wanted to get it to her backhand and keep it short," Keller said.
Keller rallied to beat Aikens 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to secure the district's top spot in girls singles on Monday evening.
After taking the first set in a close tiebreaker, Keller had to rally back from a three-game deficit to Aikens before rallying to win the next five.
She said she was motivated by a want to get home.
"I really didn't want to play a third set," Keller said. "I pulled myself together. ... I wanted to take a shower and get out of the sand."
Which was the least of her worries in her semifinal matchup against Gregory-Portland's Alexa Knesek.
The wind kicked up to about 40 mph midday, causing a short delay and blowing sand from the surrounding ground on to the court.
Keller made do with what she was given.
"I had to figure out how to get the ball over without the wind catching it," she said. "It was awful, even sun glasses weren't helping because you couldn't see the ball and couldn't see your opponent at times."
She won the first set 6-4, then polished off her semifinal opponent 6-1 in a set that was interrupted for an hour at 4-1 when the coaches decided to move the remainder of the varsity field to the old senior campus tennis courts to escape the sand and dust.
Keller's play has come on strong in the last year. The junior has played and won several USTA ZAT tournaments.
"The ZAT tournaments help me because the competition is harder than what I get in the high school tournaments," she said.
Winning has helped her advance to the champs level. But being successful means there's no rest.
"I have another tournament this weekend," Keller said.
DISTRICT 30-4A TENNIS TOURNAMENT
GIRLS SINGLES: Aurienna Anderson (VE) beats Samantha Rupley (C). ; QUARTERFINALS: Anna Guetter (GP) beat Cori Moore (BEE), 6-0, 6-4; Victoria Keller (VW) beats Alex Butts (FLO), 6-3, 6-3; Knesek beat Anderson, 6-0, 6-0; 6-0, 6-2; Brittany Aikens (FLO) beat Nicole Cobler (VW) 6-2, 6-0; SEMIFINALS: Aikens beat Guetter, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Keller beat Knesek, 6-4, 6-1; CONSOLATION: Guetter beat Knesek, 6-2, 6-1; FINAL: Keller beat Aikens, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
BOYS SINGLES: Charles Horseman (GP) beat Bill Rivas (BEE), 6-1, 6-0; Christian Tuazon (C) beat Kyle Hantegree (VE) 6-1, 6-2; Casey Becker (VW) beat Andrew Yuh (C), 6-1, 6-0; QUARTERFINALS: Horseman beat Garrett Gomez (VW), 6-1, 6-4; Sean Reinertson (FLO) beats Tuazon 6-4, 6-0; Eric Dehnert (BEE) beats Becker 6-0, 6-0; Davidson (GP) beat Richie (FLO) 6-4, 6-0; SEMIFINALS: Dehnert beats Davidson 1-6, 6-2, 6-2; Horseman beat Reinertson 6-3, 6-0; FINAL: late.
MIXED DOUBLES: Quarterfinals: Dooley-Knesek (GP) beat Davis-Bleier 6-2; 6-0; Snyder-Medina beat Taylor-Keyes (BEE) 6-0, 6-1; Townsend-Robertson (BEE) beat Frenzel-Deaton (GP) 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1; Quintanilla-Pollok (F) beat Fisher-McEuen (VW) 6-0, 6-1; Semifinals: Quintanilla-Pollok beat Townsend-Robertson 6-2, 7-5; Dooley-Knesek beat Snyder-Medina 6-0, 6-3; Final: Dooley-Knesek beat Quintanilla-Pollok 6-2, 6-2.
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Keller talks about difference this time
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