Posthumous honor for tennis star

Winchester native Jim Willing, whose life was cut short at the age of 41 in a 2002 scuba diving accident, was inducted into the University of Tennessee-Martin Athletic Hall of Fame this month.

Willing played tennis at UT-Martin from 1982 to 1985 and is the school's all-time career singles winner with a 92-32 record. He was the first person to win four straight Gulf South Conference singles titles and added three doubles titles as well. In 1985, he helped UT-Martin advance to the NCAA Division 2 national championships.

Willing's father, Bob, who still lives in Winchester, accepted the award on behalf of his son. He was joined by his wife, Sally, daughters Debbie of Winchester and Patsy of Reading, and his son's widow, Kelly, also of Reading.

"Jim had a zest for life and competition," said his father. "Whether it be tennis, hockey, baseball, golf, racquetball, or even cards, he had a passion for the win. From a young child to the day he passed away, Jim valued his close relationships. Family was always his passion. UT-Martin gave Jim a new family of friends and a stage for competition."

One of those close relationships was with Bill Cooper, a tennis player from neighboring Bethel College who was the driving force behind Willing's induction. He presented the family with Willing's Hall of Fame award.

After graduating from Winchester in 1979, where he played tennis, Willing attended Proctor Academy and Boston University for a year before enrolling at UT-Martin. He worked as a commercial airline pilot for 11 years and at the time of his death was a senior captain for Chautauqua Airlines, a division of US Airways Express.

"The ceremony was very inspiring yet at the same time very emotional," said Willing's mother. "We really had no idea just how accomplished Jim was at tennis because he never really mentioned it to us. We knew he was good, but never knew to what extreme."

The University of Massachusetts at Lowell field hockey team, which recently won its second regular-season Northeast-10 Conference title in three years, is the No. 1 seed and the host school for this weekend's conference tournament. The River Hawks, who wrapped up the regular season with a 16-2 overall record and a 15-1 clip in the NE-10, were scheduled to meet either No. 4 Stonehill (15-5, 12-4) or No. 5 Saint Michael's (8-10, 8-8) yesterday at noon with a berth in today's final at 1 p.m. at stake.

UMass has captured the last four tournament championships, including a cochampionship with Stonehill in 2005, but coach Shannon Hlebichuk was taking nothing for granted.

"This tournament is going to be extremely difficult to defend," she said. "This year is different because we're so young. The whole team chemistry is just different with only one senior."

UMass capped the regular season with a 3-2 win over Stonehill, bouncing back from a 2-0 deficit in the final five minutes behind goals by senior Jayne Vagenas of Harwich and freshman Liz Day of North Andover and an overtime goal by sophomore Jaci Moulton of Baldwinville. Moulton is the team's leading scorer with 17 goals and two assists for 36 points, followed by freshmen Katie Enaire of Amesbury (12-1-25) and Sammy Macy of Tewksbury (8-6-22).

The North Andover (18-0) field hockey team wrapped up the Cape Ann League title and was one game away from a school-record perfect season after beating Newburyport, 7-0. Lauren Gaffny had two goals, her 28th and 29th of the season. . . . Andover and Chelmsford share the Merrimack Valley Conference field hockey crown after battling to a 1-1 draw. Andover's Sarah Oteri and Chelmsford's Chelsea Gillis swapped goals. The two teams finished with identical 11-0-3 MVC records. . . . Central Catholic senior Rich Campiola fired a 1-under-par 71 at Vesper CC to win his second straight Merrimack Valley Conference golf title. . . . Brian O'Neil had the game's only goal and Kevin O'Leary and Derek Marenholz were superb in net as North Reading beat North Andover for the first time since 2001. The Hornets then tied Georgetown, 1-1, on a goal by O'Neil to qualify for postseason play. . . . James Orrigo of Medford, who suffered a brain injury during a lacrosse game last spring, and his mother, Karen, will be on the panel of the Youth Sports Concussion Conference Tuesday at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough. The conference is sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts and will address subjects such as when to return to play, legal and medical issues, and managing concussions in a school setting. For more information on the conference or to register online, go to biama.org or call 508-475-0032.

Alex Lach of Lexington had three goals to spark Tufts to soccer wins over Trinity and Southern Maine. Lach had a pair of goals in the 3-0 win over Trinity and the lone goal in the 1-0 win over Southern Maine. . . . Senior Katelyn Campopiano of Chelmsford and sophomore Jamie Gillis of Billerica were among five UMass-Lowell players named to the Northeast-10 Conference women's soccer All-Academic team. Campopiano has a 3.68 grade-point average and Gillis a 3.47 GPA.

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