Youth Tennis San Diego wins Advanta WTT Junior Nationals
Published on August 8, 2009 under World TeamTennis (WTT) News Release
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (August 8, 2009) - In a battle of two San Diego area teams, Youth Tennis San Diego Whalers edged the Westview Attackers 41-37 in Overtime to win a record 5th title at the Advanta WTT Junior Nationals at George E. Barnes Family Tennis Center in San Diego. Youth Tennis San Diego also won the event in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
WTT co-founder Billie Jean King hosted the national junior tournament which also included seminars on leadership and college. The tournament features 16 co-ed teams, ages 18 and under, from throughout the United States. The teams use the WTT format during their three days of non-elimination draw competition. Team members are selected based on their national rankings, but are not eligible if they attain a ranking of 1-150 on the USTA National Seed Selection List as of May of this year. The 16 teams receive grants of $500 each from WTT Charities, Inc. to help bring a coach to assist them.
Youth Tennis San Diego dropped three of the first four sets in the championship match before rallying back to win both sets of boys' singles and take an eight-game lead into the final sets of mixed doubles. Youth Tennis San Diego and the Westview Attackers split mixed doubles to send the overall match into Overtime. After dropping the first game in Overtime, Youth Tennis San Diego held serve for the 41-37 win and the title. Team members for Youth Tennis San Diego are Gannon Nicoll of Chula Vista, Calif.; and Mimi Hamling, Nick Stevens, Niko Karnopp, Anna Yang, Sophia Najera and Alex Bouillin, all of San Diego, Calif. Eric Mann is the coach for Youth Tennis San Diego.
Westview Attackers team members are Romar Hernandez of San Diego, Calif.; James Boyd of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Megan Mc Cray of Oceanside, Calif.; Morgan Mc Cray of Oceanside, Calif.; and Maika Adair of San Diego, Calif. Huong Nguyen is the team coach.
The 2008 Champions USTA Southern Storm outgunned the USTA Texas Cowboys 37-28 to finish the three- day tournament in third place.
It took a Supertiebreaker for USTA Southwest Sweetness to defeat the Mid-Atlantic Kastles 39-38 in the battle for fifth place. The Mid-Atlantic team selected their name as a tribute to the Advanta WTT Pro League Champion Washington Kastles who won their first WTT title last month in Washington, D.C.
USTA Middle States Team Dave received the Maureen Connolly Brinker Team Spirit Award which is voted on by coaches, players and tournament officials for a team's outstanding sportsmanship and camaraderie. Middle States received a $1,000 check along with the award. The lineup for Middle States is Darren Mast, Lancaster, Pa.; Andrew Marczak, Wexford, Pa.; Norman Patten, Holland, Pa.; Kimmy Borza, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Jenny Morgan, New Hope, Pa.; Morgan Adamo, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and coach Jim Phipps. This is the second consecutive year that a team from USTA Middle States has received the Spirit Award.
During the awards ceremony, Phipps explained his team's unusual name choice. Phipps said his team visited a Chick-fil-a restaurant near the tennis center earlier this week. Phipps and his Middle States squad were so impressed by the quality of customer service and graciousness of a restaurant employee named David Simpson, that the players selected Team Dave as their new team name. Phipps said that Dave's attitude and respect for others was something the entire team wanted to emulate, so Team Dave was born. The team's namesake was a surprise guest at Saturday's awards ceremony, bringing along sandwiches from this restaurant for the entire tournament field.
The tournament matches follow the WTT non-elimination round-robin format. Each team is comprised of three boys, three girls and a coach. Team matches consist of eight events; with two sets each of boys' singles, girls' singles, one set of boys' and girls' doubles, and two sets of mixed doubles. The first team to reach six games wins each set. A nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches five all. One point is awarded for each game won. If necessary, Overtime and a Supertiebreaker are played to determine the outright winner of the match.
FINAL RESULTS - Advanta WTT Junior Nationals, Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. - Saturday, August 8
Playoff Results for Saturday, August 8, 2009 Championship Match: Youth Tennis San Diego Whalers def. Westview Attackers 41-37 3rd place match: USTA Southern Storm def. USTA Texas Cowboys 37-28 5th place match: Southwest Sweetness def. USTA Mid-Atlantic Kastles 39-38 (STB 7-4) 7th place match: Smooth Strokes def. Sparetime Stingers 42-28 9th place match: USTA Northern Lights def. Pacific Northwest Defiant 46-24 11th place match: USTA Eastern Aces def. USTA Intermountain Altitude 33-32 13th place match: Bakersfield Heat def. Jack Kramer Club 40-19 15th place match: USTA Middle States Team Dave def. Orange County Lightning 42-31
Media contact: Rosie Crews, WTT - cell: 817.691.5424 // email: rcrews@wtt.com
2009 Advanta World TeamTennis Junior Nationals hosted by Billie Jean King - TEAMS
1st place: Youth Tennis San Diego Whalers Coach: Eric Mann Gannon Nicoll, Chula Vista, Calif.; and Mimi Hamling, Nick Stevens, Niko Karnopp, Anna Yang, Sophia Najera, and Alex Bouillin, all of San Diego, Calif.
2nd place: Westview Attackers Coach: Huong Nguyen Romar Hernandez, San Diego, Calif.; James Boyd, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; Megan Mc Cray, Oceanside, Calif.; Morgan Mc Cray, Oceanside, Calif.; and Maika Adair, San Diego, Calif.
3rd place: USTA Southern Storm Coach: Susannah Cook Roberto Hennis, Raleigh, N.C.; Parker Chang, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Chase Baker, Suwanee, Ga.; Nancy Worley, New Orleans, La.; Nicole Laduca, Woodstock, Ga.; and Kelsey Coots, Huntsville, Ala.
4th place: USTA Texas Cowboys Coach: Bobby Reeves Madison Rabson, The Woodlands, Texas; Josh Hagar. Austin, Texas; Meredith Hopson, Austin, Texas; Kyle Waldrep, Dallas, Texas; Erich Bein, Abilene, Texas; and Molly Welsh, Weatherford, Texas
5th place: USTA Southwest Sweetness Coach: Eric Mitchell Ahmad Saleem, Phoenix, Ariz.; Jacob Spizman, Chandler, Ariz.; Thomas Cooper, Albuquerque, N.M.; Gabrielle Otero, Albuquerque, N.M.; Ane McPike, Santa Maria, Calif.; and Abby Will, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
6th place: USTA Mid-Atlantic Kastles Coach: Joe Cappelino Sophia Schonfeld, Washington D.C.; Harsha Rao, Severn, Md.; Christopher Ford, Williamsburg, Va.; Michelle Nguyen, Springfield, Va.; and Linden Li, Great Falls, Va.
7th place: Smooth Strokes Academy Coach: Alyce Meadors Drew Anderson, Stone, Ga.; Jordan Harrell, Lithonia, Ga.; Jattaun Clark, Atlanta, Ga.; Britany Harrell, Lithonia, Ga.; Kyle Burton, Madison, Tenn., and Anthony La Rue, Louisville, Ky.
8th place: Spare Time Academy Stingers (USTA NorCal) Coach: Novak Nash, Carmel Nash Katie Marshall, Patrick Maloney, Wyatt Brown, Oliver Tallman, all of Sacramento, Calif.; Bryn Bacharach, Newcastle, Calif.; and Madeleine Verspieren, Fair Oaks, Calif.
9th place: USTA Northern Lights Coach: Gordon Reid Katie Jesperson, Elk River, Minn.; Cassandre Brown, Elk River, Minn.; Elianna Kantar, Minneapolis, Minn.; Justin Abrams, Ben Kopecky; and Marcel Gyswyt of Golden Valley, Minn.
10th place: Defiant (USTA Pacific Northwest) Coach: Nancy Ansboury Jake Knox, Richland, Wash.; Julie Christen, Vancouver, Wash.; Zachery Lyons, Vancouver, Wash.; Brittany Ellingsen, Vancouver, Wash.; Triton Pitassi, Camas, Wash., and Steffani Mortera, Portland, Ore.
11th place: USTA Eastern Aces Coach: Connie Jones Devlin-Ann Armendoln, Massapequa, N.Y.; Alexander Tsai, Binghamton, N.Y.; Michael Puntillo, Sands Point, N.Y.; Madison Gordon, New York, N.Y.; Minami Okajima, Montville, N.J.; and Jeramy Solema, Briarwood, N.Y.
12th place: USTA Intermountain Altitude Coach: Sue Burke Kenneth Dodd, Nampa, Idaho; Ellen Crum, Great Falls, Mont.; Tyler Frost, Bozeman, Mont.; Joseph Marra, Great Falls, Mont.; Kristi Russell, Bountiful, Utah; and Michelle Warwick, Meridian, Idaho
13th place: Bakersfield Heat (USTA Southern California) Coach: Mark Windes Brooke Meeler, Gracie Jacobs, James Griffin, Leah Stewart, Daymon Johnson, Nancy Ramirez, all of Bakersfield, Calif.
14th place: Jack Kramer Club Coach: Bill Dunkle Sachi Carlson, Rancho Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.; Sanjana Shah. Rancho Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.; Madeleine Sung, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.; David Geisinger, Rancho Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.; Conner Gomez, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., and Gregory Yin, Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.
15th: Team Dave (USTA Middle States) Coach: Jim Phipps Darren Mast, Lancaster, Pa.; Andrew Marczak, Wexford, Pa.; Norman Patten, Holland, Pa.; Kimmy Borza, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Jenny Morgan, New Hope, Pa.; and Morgan Adamo, Pittsburgh, Pa
16th place: Orange County Lightning Coach: A.G. Longoria Alex Manolakas, Laguna Hills, Calif.; Sean Batten, Laguna Hills, Calif.; Tracy Bedlie, Costa Mesa, Calif.; Rian Billingsley, Santa Ana, Calif.; Devyn Billingsley, Santa Ana, Calif.; and Dominique Moore, Irvine, Calif.
World TeamTennis Stories from August 8, 2009
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