Wednesday, July 31, 1996

Griffin victorious in Hendrick Sectionals

By MARK WILSON
Staff Writer

Bethany Griffin may have to say goodbye to the days of being unseeded in tennis tournaments.

After winning the championship girls 14 singles titles in both the Amarillo Open and the Dr Pepper Open in Dallas recently, Griffin defeated eighth-seeded Caroline Scott Tuesday in the opening round of the Hendrick Center for Rehabilitation Championship Junior Sectionals.

"The last few tournaments I played in were past the deadline to put in the seeding information here," Griffin explained.

Griffin, a 13-year-old who will be an eighth grader this fall at Bonham Middle School in Amarillo, is going strong for someone who has only been playing tennis two years.

"I try to play at least four days a week," Griffin said. "What pushed me to get better was I won a (Zone Advancement) tournament in Wichita Falls, which is what qualified me for the championship level. That motivated me to get a lot better."

Because of her recent success, the win over Scott, a daughter of Cooper High School tennis coach Leanne Scott, wasn't a big shock to Griffin.

"At the Dr Pepper Open, I had to play the one, two and three seeds," Griffin said. "Seeding doesn't really matter. I knew if I played my best I could win. What gave me confidence at this tournament was, looking at the draw, the girl I beat in the final at the Dr Pepper Open (Lilian Chu of Dallas) was seeded No. 1 here."

Scott had a surge late in their match, as Griffin dropped two games in a row before securing the win.

"I think I lost my concentration a little bit," Griffin said. "I said, 'This is my last game I'm going to play today,' and I just closed it out.

"I played pretty good. My forehand was a little off and so was my second serve, but all in all I think I played pretty well."