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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Thursday, October 13, 1994     Page: 1B

CLARKS SUMMIT — Losing the Southern Division championship was so
devastating, Krisa Yurko didn’t have the heart to bring her tennis racquet to
school Wednesday morning.
   
But she sure had it in hand by late afternoon.
    Yurko and Leah Rubin each won two points as Wyoming Valley West controlled
Abington Heights, 5-2, in a first-round Northeastern Pennsylvania Girls Tennis
Conference league playoff match at the Abington Heights Middle School.
   
“It feels really good,” Yurko said. “I’m really excited.”
   
That put the Spartans, 14-2, in Friday’s league semifinal match against
Northern Division champion Wallenpaupack (12-0) at 4 p.m. at Wallenpaupack.
   
It also made for a nice recovery from an emotionally-draining 5-2 loss to
Wyoming Seminary in the NEPTC divisional championship Tuesday which left
Valley West demoralized. Seminary plays Scranton Prep on Friday.
   
“Losing was hard,” Valley West Coach Gail Barket said.
   
But winning brought smiles.
   
Rubin, Yurko and Erica Michelstein won singles matches for Valley West, and
the Spartans gained two doubles victories to control the Comets.
   
“I had no idea who I was playing,” Rubin said.
   
She didn’t really care, either.
   
The gritty Valley West star earned her 16th victory without a loss by
blistering a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Heather Conte. Half of those victories came
over the last 10 days.
   
“I pretty much go up and it’s not really the person I’m playing,” Rubin
said. “It’s more or less playing the ball. I hit the top of my peak last week.
I think it’s because we’ve been playing so many in a row. I don’t know where I
get the energy. I’m pretty tired all day. Then all of a sudden, it’s match
time. I’m excited to play tennis.”
   
“She’s mowing people,” Barket said. “She’s on a high.”
   
So were her teammates.
   
Yurko rebounded from two personal losses in the divisional championship
with two big wins Wednesday. Valley West’s fiesty No. 2 player had built a
13-match winning streak, and the second half of her season, around avenging an
opening-day loss to Seminary’s Lee Schottenfeld but came up disappointed
Tuesday.
   
Then the 14-0 regular-season record she built with partner Rubin in top
doubles play also ended at Seminary’s hands, leaving Yurko heartbroken.
   
“It was really hard, because I lost in singles and doubles,” Yurko said of
Tuesday’s results. “After the doubles, I was kind of upset. I just tried to
put it behind me.”
   
“She was down,” Barket said. “She didn’t even take her (tennis) clothes or
her racquet to school. But she’s a team player. She put it together for the
team.”
   
Then Yurko pulled out a 6-4, 6-0 victory in the second singles match
Wednesday, which left her quite pleased.
   
“I think I played really well,” Yurko said. “I kept my head down. I didn’t
jump.”
   
Until, that is, after teaming with Rubin for a 6-0, 6-2 victory, which left
Rubin beaming.
   
“We played 10 times better than we played (Tuesday),” Rubin said.
“Something clicked. I didn’t expect to go undefeated in doubles, then I didn’t
want to break the streak. It’s over, nothing you can do about it. But we had
another match.”
   
And Valley West’s inspiring coach let them forget it.
   
“We had a nice talk, and forgot about (Tuesday),” Barket said. “They knew
what they had to do. Mentally, they toughened up.”
   
That showed when Michelstein churned out an uplifting 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory
at No. 4 singles. The Spartanettes then closed the victory, with Rubin and
Yurko winning the top doubles match and the team of Kelly Whalen and Jenn
Clegg pulling off a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles.
   
Abington Heights, which finished 7-3, gained victories from Megan Young,
who won in straight sets at No. 3 singles, and from the No. 2 doubles team of
Conte and Sarah O’Brien.
   
But it did little keep the Spartans from healing.
   
“They saved some pride today,” Barket said. “They beat a good team. They
wanted to win, just to prove to themselves they could.”
   
Singles: Rubin (WVW) def. Conte, 6-0, 6-2; Yurko (WVW) def. Gomar, 6-4,
6-0; Young (AH) def. Whalen, 6-3, 6-3; Michelstein (WVW) def. O’Brien, 6-2,
4-6, 6-1.
   
Doubles: Rubin/Yurko (WVW) def. Gomar/Rosenstein, 6-0, 6-2; Conte/O’Brien
(AH) def. Michelstein/Brenner, 6-2, 6-1; Whalen/Clegg (WVW) def.
Young/Ruggiero, 6-2, 6-3.
   
Tunkhannock 4, Haz. Area 3
   
TUNKHANNOCK — The Lady Tigers won three singles matches to defeat Hazleton
Area in a makeup match.
   
Erin Baldwin and Jessie Place won their singles matches in three sets. Erin
Baldwin won the other for Tunkhannock, then teamed with Jennifer Klepacki to
capture the opening double event. The Tigers finished their season at 5-9 with
the win.
   
Singles:
   
Baldwin (Tunk.) def. Jorgensen, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6; Luxardo (Haz.) def.
Klepacki, 7-5, 6-0; Mast (