A Battle Over Court Marshalls

Connie Flanderka will always remember. Frances Giffin just wants to forget.

On Oct. 3, the Westlake and Camarillo girls’ tennis teams played a high school match filled with verbal jousting, accusations of cheating and general unsportsmanlike behavior, by the genteel standards of tennis.

Now the two coaches are directly opposed in their views on how to handle their rematch on Tuesday at Camarillo High.

According to Giffin, Camarillo’s coach, it’s just another match. Flanderka says officials from the U.S. Tennis Assn. are needed to govern the rematch.

Flanderka has reserved USTA officials for Tuesday’s match even though Camarillo still refuses to use them. Flanderka also is frustrated that attempts to set up meetings with Giffin and the principals from the two schools have been rejected by Camarillo.

“It has been a headache since October 4th and it should be resolved by now,” Flanderka said. “Everybody thinks it will just go away.”

Westlake Athletic Director Joseph Pollack said he spoke with Camarillo Principal Terry Tackett earlier this week in an effort to get everyone together.

“I proposed some times, but they didn’t see a reason to meet,” Pollack said. “This is Camarillo’s home match and they can set any standard of supervision they see fit.”

Tackett and Athletic Director Carl Thompson did not return a reporter’s phone calls.

The presence of USTA officials would provide additional eyes for coaches, who are required to supervise six simultaneous matches. USTA officials have the authority to impose penalties such as forfeiture of points, games and even the match.

Karen Hellyer, the Southern Section assistant commissioner in charge of tennis, said the decision to use USTA officials is a league matter. She added that the use of USTA officials is not uncommon in high school matches.

“We don’t get involved in the league decisions,” Hellyer said. “But if the schools recommend the use of officials, then heavens yes we support that decision.”

While Flanderka has spent the last three weeks trying to address the situation, Giffin is standing firm in her laissez-faire approach even though she originally agreed with Flanderka about using USTA officials. Giffin changed her position after consulting with Camarillo officials.

“If we have extra officials there then it’s as if we’re expecting problems,” Giffin said. “I don’t like what happened and I don’t want it to happen again. I just want everybody to relax and enjoy the good tennis.”

During the Oct. 3 match, Camarillo’s Darian Chappell and Westlake’s Erin Smith argued repeatedly over line calls. Smith won the set but Camarillo won the match, 11-7.

The tension between Chappell and Smith spilled over to other players who accused each other of poor sportsmanship and cheating on line calls.

“There shouldn’t be any problems this time,” Chappell said. “They are making a way bigger issue out of it than it really is.”

Smith agreed--at least partly.

“They are a very, very competitive team. Me beating Darian--they didn’t expect that and they didn’t know how to handle it.”