STATE EXTRA: Miller falls in title match

RADFORD – It was a busy day for Jessica Miller.

First, she ended a senior’s high school career in an epic two-hour, three-set semifinal.

Then, after an hour break, she faced a well-rested fellow sophomore for the state’s ultimate tennis prize.

The result wasn’t even close to the same.

But that mattered little to Stuarts Draft’s Miller after losing the Group AA girls singles championship 6-3, 6-3 to Hidden Valley’s Kristin Harter on Thursday.

When Miller’s final volley sailed wide of the white line, Harter raised her racket in the air to celebrate. Miller broke into a smile.

Coach Tom Goforth and a small following of family and friends at Radford University’s athletic complex followed suit – breaking into applause and hugging the red-head turned sun-bleach blonde after she bounced back to her bench.

“Thanks for the ride,” Goforth said.

He wasn’t kidding.

“I’m really excited that I, pretty much, got here,” said Miller, holding her second-place medal in her left hand and still grinning. “I was really nervous that I wouldn’t make it past the first match.”

She wasn’t the only one.

Goforth and Miller’s mother, Diane, paced back and forth during her two-hour showdown with Jamestown’s Kelly Little in the 9 a.m. semifinal at the Radford athletic complex. Even as Miller jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set, Goforth wiped his brow and let out an exaggerated sigh as he toggled between sitting, standing and leaning against the fence.

After taking a 6-3 win in the first set, a double fault by Miller gave Little a 6-3 win in the second.

Then the mint-mouthwash cool Miller got into Little’s head. The Jamestown senior’s double fault to force a deuce was almost the turning point, with Little looking toward the sky and calling herself an “idiot” after her serve attempt slapped the net.

She followed it up with another double fault to give Miller the advantage before Little chased down a Miller volley, only to hit it long and out. As Miller walked back to her bench with a 1-0 lead, Little stayed on the court, dropped her racket and looked back toward a clearing sky and yelled something intelligible.

Miller never so much as let out a peep.

“That’s when I realized that I could get in her head and she could get down on herself,” Miller said.

Little never recovered and Miller took full advantage, sweeping the next game to take a 2-0 lead and, eventually, going on for the 6-2 win and the right to face Harter.

“Proud, relieved,” Goforth said. “I told you she’s amazing. She’s a young sophomore, but with her composure on the court, you would think she’s 20 years old.”

Harter’s semifinal, a 6-0, 6-3 sweep of Freedom’s Carla Wong, lasted an hour. Miller, after dispensing of Little in 120 minutes, would only get an hour before the championship bout with rain clouds moving in.

She wasn’t going to use that as an excuse.

“It was kind of pain,” said Miller, who also runs cross country and track at Draft. “But, oh well, that’s how it goes.

“I was getting tired, but I can’t make any excuses on my part, she was playing well.”

After losing the first set to Harter, Miller was down 1-0 in the second before forcing her opponent to put a volley into the net on a deuce for the advantage. Harter forced two more deuces before Miller caught Harter charging the net and lobbed one over her head to hold serve.

Miller dominated the next game, taking a 2-1 lead on a Harter double fault minutes after she stretched high for an overhead smash to make it 40-15.

After that, however, Harter took control, winning the next four points in impressive fashion, backed by a top spin that had Miller hitting long.

“It is awesome,” said Harter of her crown. It was the sophomore’s second appearance in the state championship, losing in 2008 to Lafayette’s Tori Fort 6-2, 6-0. “Words cannot describe it.”

Miller, who will try to make it three straight Southern Valley titles and back-to-back Region III crowns in 2010, already has her mind set on next season.

“Next year, my goal will be to get to the final again and, possibly, even win it,” she said.

Harter said she’d expect nothing less.

“I’m jealous of how she plays,” she said of Miller. “She got everything back and she plays smart.

“I’ll definitely be seeing her in states again.”