Leslie Whitten University Year: Junior Sport: Tennis Event: Singles

University’s Leslie Whitten just bore down and got tough against Mead’s Amy Fong in the finals of the Inland Empire Tennis Tournament on Saturday at Central Valley.

Whitten, a junior, is soft-spoken, and a little bit shy, but her play roared this past weekend.

Whitten defeated Fong, who was the top-seeded girls singles player for the tournament, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 to win the girls championship.

Maybe even more impressive was the fact that Fong beat Whitten in a Greater Spokane League match just two days before by a 6-2, 6-2 score.

“In that first match, I was missing (shots) too much and being too inconsistent,” Whitten said. “I was just trying to relax and stay more focused this time.”

And focus, patience and relaxation were all necessary at the start of Saturday’s match. The first set lasted approximately 1 hour before Whitten finally won it.

“I didn’t have much (energy) left after that set,” Whitten said. “It was a battle from there.”

And Whitten came out victorious.

Last year, Whitten finished eighth at state. She said she came into this season not thinking about the playoffs.

“I didn’t set any goals for myself,” Whitten said. “All I want to do was take one match at a time.”