Published: June 11, 2009 11:51 pm         

Farmer in top form heading into state tennis finals

TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute North tennis coach Jim Cook would take Brittany Farmer and her clean-hitting baseline strokes over any of the six individual singles state finalists who begin play today at North Central High School.

Especially the way Farmer is playing right now.

But considering that the six players involved have a combined five losses — all five belonging to Farmer — the Patriot senior is definitely the underdog of the field.

Farmer’s opening-round opponent is freshman Bethany Moore of Lebanon, who’s 19-0 this season. But the slender 6-foot-1 senior is as confident in her shot-making ability as she’s ever been during a 79-11 four-year career at No. 1 singles.

“This is the strongest she’s played all year long. We’re excited with how she’s playing,” Cook said.

“Her timing’s really on. She’s not going to try to rally with you all day. She’s going to go for the shot.”

With a victory today, Farmer would play Mary Hill of Munster, who has more than 100 career wins — but not all at No. 1 singles, Cook said. Hill and Christina Riley of Avon have first-round byes.

Farmer is 17-5 on the season, with most of the losses coming more than a month ago. One was to Terre Haute South’s Hunter Bullock and two came to Carmel’s Courtney Wild (26-3), who lost to Munster’s Hill twice this season.

Farmer ran off 11 straight games in the semistate round after falling behind in the opening set, moving on with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Evansville Memorial’s Elizabeth Wilm.

“I played really well last weekend,” Farmer said. “I had kind of a shaky start and she was playing well then I just got it together, starting hitting my shots and playing relaxed.”

Farmer’s outstanding play began about a month ago. She avenged the loss to Bullock and went on to place second to Wild in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet, in which she had placed first, second and fourth in previous years.

“I feel like I’ve been playing really well lately,” Farmer said. “The past month I’ve been hitting really well. I’m really happy with where my game is now, and it started with sectionals.”

Today’s match will be a battle of two opposite styles of play, the freshman Moore trying to utilize her speed against Farmer.

“I saw her last weekend and she’s pretty good. She’s really good,” Farmer said. “She comes to the net a lot. She tries to attack. She’s fast.”

Cook knows it will take another extraordinary effort from the Butler-bound Farmer.

“We feel good about our chances,” he said. “Definitely I’m sure the girl’s a quality player, but I know they haven’t played the schedule that we have. The maturity level from a freshman to a senior sometimes can be a factor. But it’s always hard to take out somebody that hasn’t lost.”

When Farmer keeps the ball out of the middle of the court, she can be a handful for anyone, Cook said.

“She hits the ball, you better be ready to move to hit it,” Cook said. “She can dictate where she puts it. Her objective is to keep it out of the middle of the court, the dark hole. She’s going to be hard to take out ... the way she played last week.”

Farmer hopes the fast courts at North Central can also play to her strengths.

However it turns out this weekend, Farmer can look back at an impressive career. She’s the first North girl to qualify for the individual state finals, and she led the team to state as a freshman in 2006.

“It’s been a lot of fun, I’ve learned a lot, a lot of good memories,” Farmer said. “Mr. Cook and [North assistant coach] Bob Denny, also my dad, have given me great coaching and support for four years. And all my teammates, they’ve came to all my matches throughout the tournament and I really appreciate that support.”

Terre Haute South’s No. 1 doubles team of Emma Bilyeu and Mallory Metheny — both juniors — are also in contention for a doubles state title after improving to 9-0 in the tournament in South’s fourth-place team finish last weekend.

They play today against Annabeth Barnard and Gabrielle Rubenstein of Brebeuf; Rubenstein and Barnard were playing the top two singles spots when South beat Brebeuf in a dual match last month.