Women's tennis team reaches sectional competition
by KIMBERLY M. KARCHER Editor

For some, tennis is a hobby. Or perhaps a career. Or perhaps a form of exercise.

For a handful of local women it has become a form of all three.

Through the United States Tennis Association 13 women, who reside as close as Clarence Center and Williamsville and as far out as Orchard Park, have spent their free time training for match after match, each time surprising each other and even themselves by taking win after win.

The team recently made it as far as sectionals in the national competition and for them it was worth every pulled-muscle pain.

"It was such an intense, yet wonderful experience," said Nancy Rehak, team captain. "We started out playing against other teams in our division throughout Western New York. There were 11 teams we competed against and we won."

Next, the women moved onto the regionals where they were matched up against four other teams who had also taken their division titles.

"It was exciting," Rehak said. "You know, we kept advancing and the anticipation of 'wow, we could really win this thing' kept growing with every win. It was just a great experience."

After the regional win, the team got a well-earned two week rest period before sectionals in Syracuse, but rest is not what they were looking for.

"We practiced as much as we could," Rehak said. "You know most of us are moms with children, we have jobs, it's not like tennis is something we can do all day, so sometimes it's hard to fit in a practice. But, these ladies were just magnificent, they sacrificed a lot of time to work on their skills so could try and continue to advance in this competition."

The ladies and some members of their families traveled to Syracuse for the sectional competition.

But, what the team didn't know was the grand-scale of competition they were walking into.

"Ok, we got a little stage fright," Rehak recalled with a laugh.

"A little? No, we were overwhelmed," joked teammate Maryann Grande. "There were teams there with matching uniforms, different uniforms for each match and they had fans with them. It was intimidating."

In the beginning, the "stage fright" took its toll on the team.

"We completely fell apart during the first match," Rehak said. "It was nerves, we lost."

The defeat turned into a sort of "wake-up" call for the ladies.

"After that, we went and found public tennis courts and literally practiced for four and half hours because we were so upset," Rehak said. "We returned, finished the sectional competition and ended up coming in second. That first team was the only team to beat us. So who knows, if we didn't have that stage fright we could have been on our way to nationals."

The ladies said they owed their success to each other as well as their coach, Todd Miller of Amherst Hills.

"We wouldn't have made it that far without him," Rehak said. "He was instrumental in getting us to the level of competition that we are at."

"To come in second place at that level of tennis, well it's something to be proud of," added Grande who said the team is ranked to play on difficulty scale of 3.0 out of 4.5. "Our teammates, our coach, everyone had a hand in getting us that far. And Nancy as our captain just did a great job, getting us to practice and finding time for us to work on our techniques. It was a great time."

One teammate, Silva Serghany of East Amherst, almost didn't get to play.

Serghany is from Lebanon and was scheduled to leave for a month-long stay.

"It was right around the time of the airport bombing, so I couldn't leave," she said. "It was bad because I wasn't able to go home, but I did get to stay and play with the girls."

Serghany has been playing tennis for four years.

"It was very interesting and exciting," she said. "Todd our coach and the group of ladies were really nice. I enjoyed practicing with them and playing in the matches."

"We are ready to win," she said. "We've been practicing at Amherst Hills, which has been such a supporter for us, and we're just getting ready to take it all next year."