Volynets faces rematch in Orange Bowl semis

Katie Volynets, shown last year, will face
Angelica Blake for the second time in one
week. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The only player who gave girls 16s champion Katie Volynets trouble in last week's Eddie Herr International Championships was Angelica Blake.
   They will meet again on Friday in the Orange Bowl semifinals. Both players are unseeded in the clay-court tournament in Plantation, Fla.
   Volynets, a resident of Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, elminated qualifier Elvina Kalieva of Staten Island, N.Y., 7-5, 6-0 today. Blake, from Boca Raton, Fla., subdued unseeded Amber O'Dell of New Milford, N.J., 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. 
   Volynets, who will turn 15 on Dec. 31, topped Blake 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Eddie Herr on hardcourts in Bradenton, Fla. It was the only set Volynets lost in the tournament.
   In the other Orange Bowl semifinal, 14th-seeded Imani Graham of Saint Johns, Fla., will play qualifier Arabella Koller of Austria.
   Meanwhile, 13th-seeded Sam Riffice of Roseville in the Sacramento area beat qualifier Sangeet Sridhar of Scottsdale, Ariz., 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the boys 18 quarterfinals. Sridhar had shocked Canada's Benjamin Sigouin, the third seed and Eddie Herr runner-up, in the first round.
   Riffice, who swept the 16s singles titles in the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl two years ago, will meet Sebastian Baez of Argentina. Baez defeated Vasil Kirkov of Tampa, Fla., 6-4, 6-4. Kirkov was coming off a victory over seventh-seeded Liam Caruana of Italy.