Published: Oct. 22, 2013
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor
MADISON — West Bend East’s Lexi Keberle doesn’t pay much
attention to what’s going on over on the other side of the net, at least in
between points. She just concentrates on her game and her emotions.
And that, her coach Laura Vraney said, is what separates a
good player from a great player, a state champion.
“I think she frustrates her opponents because she doesn’t
show her emotions,” Vraney said. “She doesn’t let her opponents get to her.”
In her two matches Saturday en route to the WIAA Division 1
girls tennis state singles championship where she beat two-time defending state
champion Elizabeth Konon of Homestead in three sets, Keberle played two
emotionally charged players — Konon and Arrowhead’s Emily Kolbow — who weren’t
shy to reveal their excitement or frustration after each point.
On the other side of the net, Keberle was calm, cool and
collected, which she credited to a club soccer coach when she was 9 or 10 years
old.
Being that calm is a bonus for Keberle, who is already tough
to beat with her skill set alone.
“It helps her out in the long run,” Vraney said, adding D.C.
Everest’s Gabi Kitchell in the state quarterfinal was having points deducted
because of her attitude on the court.
Whether they won or lost the point, Kolbow and Konon would do
something, shout in excitement or shout after missing a shot. Keberle had the
same face every time.
“I’ve gotten so many other coaches who have come up to me
and said how they love Lexi’s style of play and how she carries herself on the
court,” Vraney said.
It’s not to say that a player who shows emotion in a match
can’t be successful. Take Konon as an example. She’s a two-time state singles
champion and won 141 matches in her high school career.
It’s just not Keberle’s style.
“I try to use it to my advantage, if they’re frustrated,”
she said. “But I also try not to worry too much about what’s going on with them.
I just continue with what I need to do.”
However, Keberle had a chance to mentally break down in the
final.
After losing the first game of the third set, the seventh
straight game she dropped in the match, Keberle changed rackets because of a
broken string.
With the new racket, Keberle held serve to even the set at
1-1.
A change of racket was just a coincidence at that point in
the match.
“After losing the seven straight games, I realized what I
was doing wrong,” Keberle said. “I broke it down and did whatever I had to do
and I started executing it.”
Even after Konon hit a return shot into the net to end the
match, Keberle gave a minimal fist pump and calmly met Konon at the net for the
usual post-match handshake. As she walked off the court, with a large support
group sitting above the court, she didn’t even wave or look up at the crowd.
But once they got access to her on the court before and
after the awards celebration, the team let her know how excited they were.
And just because Keberle was calm, doesn’t mean her mother
was.
Throughout the state final, Laura Keberle had her hands
folded or her face in her hands, barely able to watch the match unfold. That
was especially the case when Lexi Keberle battled through six championship
points to get the victory.
Afterward, Laura Keberle jokingly said she felt like she was
going to have a heart attack. At least we know where Lexi Keberle didn’t get
her calm demeanor from.
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