Tennis

On Friday, the junior won the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference individual tennis title, beating McDonogh's Jake Gober, 6-3, 6-1. That performance came after Portner won at No.1 singles and No.1 doubles in leading the Gaels to their first team tennis championship since 1984, when they played in the Maryland Scholastic Association. Portner is a lefty who hits a heavy ball with lots of topspin, and he's smart on and off the court. He carries a 4.0 GPA and is in contact with Ivy League schools.

Mount St. Joseph tennis coach Tom Hughes knew he had something special the first day his team stepped onto the court for its first practice in early March. Most of the players had already spent much of the year improving their skills, so they were already in mid-season form by the first drill. The Gaels then went undefeated through the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association regular season and knocked off defending champion McDonogh in the playoffs, dropping just one game in that entire stretch.

A scaled-down tennis center at Troy Park is still possible and feasible. The Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) study confirmed the positive economic impact and demand for tennis courts. The center would attract USTA tournaments, alleviate the shortage of courts for Howard County residents and provide a venue for the U.S. Tennis Association's largest youth initiative in its history, 10-and-under tennis. The MSA study also suggested that the county may want to consider "a smaller, first-class outdoor competitive court with relative limited spectator seating that could accommodate tournament activity as well as other uses.

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a staple of the late-summer sporting scene in the Washington area for more than four decades, is getting a dramatic makeover that will include a new title sponsor, stadium upgrades and shared billing with an existing tournament for rising women's players. The key development driving the changes is a new title sponsor in Citigroup, which will replace Baltimore-based Legg Mason after an 18-year association with the hard-court classic. To be known as the Citi Open, the tournament will remain at Washington's William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park.

The Maryland Stadium Authority has dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on the tennis enthusiasts who want to build a world-class tennis facility in Howard County, in the form of a rather sobering and discouraging analysis of the proposal. And while the prospect of such a facility is beguiling, the authority's analysis was a welcome dose of reality. The suggested facility, a nearly decade-old dream of tennis-lovers here, would be built at a county-owned site at the intersection of Route 100 and Interstate 95. The Troy Park Tennis Center, as originally envisioned, would include some 30 tennis courts, an 8,000-seat stadium (one of the largest tennis-specific venues in the country)

Bel Air handed Fallston its first loss of the year in Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference play last Friday. The Bobcats upset the Cougars 7-4 behind strong singles play from their top boys and girls. Several matches were decided by super tie-breakers after players split sets. Bel Air freshman Michael Quang continues to dominate the boys singles, winning his 10th match of the season without a loss. He defeated Derek Xiao in straight sets to start off the afternoon play. At boys second singles, Bel Air's Serkan Olgac needed a super tie-breaker to complete a come-from-behind win after dropping the first set to Fallston's Andrew Gounaris.

Loyola Blakefield coach Don Kraft said his team has its best shot to advance to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association team championships in May since he took over as head coach in 2000. The Dons showed signs of that with the season's first half just completed. They're 4-1, having blanked three opponents, including Severn, 5-0, Tuesday at the Athletic Performance Inc. in Gambrills. Now, Loyola is poised for a successful second half as it kicks off Thursday with a home match against conference rival St. Paul's.

Emily T. Taliaferro, an artist and former Friends School tennis coach, died of stroke complications April 2 at Roland Park Place. She was 82. Born in Baltimore, she was the daughter of Raymond S. Tompkins, a Sun reporter and later an official of Baltimore's streetcar utility, United Railways, and Marie Lanning, whom he met in Alabama while awaiting a departure to France to cover World War I. She lived as a child at the Lombardy Apartments and...

Tennis The Glenmont Tennis League is a summer recreational tennis league for adult women. Meet new players and just have fun. Applications are due by April 1. For an application, email suefilson@verizon.net or call 410-730-6565.   Parents can register their children for the Howard County recreation department's spring and summer tennis programs Sat., March 11 from 10 a.m.-noon at the Meadowbrook facility, 5001 Meadowbrook Lane, Ellicott City. Softball The Cindy LaRue League, an informal co-rec softball league, is looking for players age 19 and older - especially couples and women - from all parts of Howard County.

Elinora Bowdoin Bolton, a former French teacher who had been a celebrated 1940s women's tennis player, died of heart failure in her sleep Tuesday at the Keswick Multicare Center. The former Howard County resident was 93. Family members said she was born Elinora Bowdoin in the family home at 1106 N. Charles St., which now houses the Brewer's Art restaurant. Her father moved his family to Somerset Road in Roland Park after he became displeased with the construction of the Monumental Life Insurance building across Charles Street.