Thursday, July 12, 2001
Hart successful in return to Met tourney
Former state champ scores 6-0, 6-1 win
By Dave Schutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It seems like yesterday that Brooke Hart was in the high school tennis limelight, graduating from Anderson as a two-time girls state champion.
That was in 1995 when Hart won the Division I state championship and was awarded a grant-in-aid from the University of Michigan. She also won the state dou bles championship in '93 with Aimee Hathaway.
After a six-year absence from the Thomas E. Price Metropolitan Tennis Championship, Hart returned Wednesday and defeated Betsy Veverka 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
“I graduated from Michigan in December and took a job with Fifth Third Bank,” Hart said. “The past two weeks, I practiced with the ball machine and my boyfriend, who has never played tennis.”
Despite the six-month layoff, Hart turned in an im pressive performance. Her serve and forehand looked good, but her backhand was, as she described it, “iffy.”
“I played No.1 singles and No.1 doubles the last three years at Michigan,” Hart said. “The team did well my freshman year, and we won the Big Ten. I had a good senior year, but the team was off.”
Hart's only other appearance in the Met was in '96, losing to eventual champion Teri Boynton in the semifinals.
“I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could win it,” Hart said. “This is my first match on clay in years and the first time I played outdoors.”
Hart's next opponent in tonight's quarterfinals is Lyndsey Molony, a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati, where she played No.2 and No.3 singles.
“I played so many matches (estimated 40 singles and 40 doubles) during the sea son, I was getting burned out,” Molony said.
She defeated Amber Pipkins 6-0, 6-0 Wednesday.
“I haven't played since late April when the season ended, but tonight I came out ready to play,” Molony said. “I served well and hit some good shots. I'm mentally ready to play, but I'm not sure of the conditioning or timing.”
Molony reached the semifinals in 2000 but lost a three-set heartbreaker to her sister Kara.
Today's schedule, Wednesday's results
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Hart successful in return to Met tourney