Nature plus nurture share credit in Sarah Stafford's rise to tennis stardom at James River High.

Nature? Both parents are former college athletes: dad Garland (football at Elon) and mom Beth (tennis at VCU) supplied athletic genes.

Nurture? Sarah began polishing her backhand somewhere between diapers and kindergarten.

"That's the sport we got our girls into, I guess, because that's what I play," said Beth Womack Stafford, who plays on a 4.0 USTA team.

Sarah is the second Stafford sister to shine at James River, following Rachel (now a sophomore at Longwood).

Sarah and Rachel formed a cracker-jack doubles team in 2005 and '06. Now, Sarah's topping the charts as a solo act.

She just completed an undefeated season - singles and in doubles (with Kim Morrisette) for coach Nancy Hayes' Rapids.

"Sarah's a great player," Hayes said. "She's solid in every way."

Stafford, who combines power plus precision, was trying to go one-up on her big sister in the Dominion District singles tourney. Twice, Rachel lost in the district final to Midlothian's Elizabeth Addison.

As a freshman/sophomore, Sarah and Rachel were undefeated in regular-season doubles, then lost to the Midlothian tandem in the tournament.

"It was so much fun playing with Rachel," Sarah said. "You can't ask for more. . . . There's no one you know better than your own sister."

Same name; different games.

"Rachel was always the more consistent; I'm more aggressive," Sarah said.

In four seasons, Sarah was 37-7 in the district and 46-12 overall entering this week.

She played No. 2 behind Rachel as a freshman and sophomore, then No. 2 behind Stella Petrova in '07.

Sarah inherited the No. 1 spot this year when Petrova was injured.

"I was sad for Stella," Stafford said. "But I felt I was ready for No. 1, and I was excited about the challenge."