San Diego – April 2009

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Sunbow Park Family Day a Huge Success

The San Diego District Tennis Association sponsors free Family Tennis Day events at various public parks and facilities for people who want to learn tennis or polish rusty strokes. Sunbow Park was the latest site to host the event on their three tennis courts. The two-hour session focused on fun and games for all ages. Drop In Tennis is the follow-up free six-week instruction program and after School Tennis is often available for the youngsters.

SDDTA Community Tennis committee members Sandie Kindred and Steve Kappes along with Jeff Anderson, District administrative assistant, were on hand as were instructors Juan Villaneuva and Lana McGowan. Over 60 people participated and others   showed up after registration ended to join in the fun.

Villaneuva has been a Drop In Tennis instructor for several years. This month, a group of ladies from one of his classes are ready to play in the 2.5 USTA Adult League and are so excited. That’s the whole point of the program – to get people to try tennis and find out how much fun the game is. Teaching pros interested in becoming Drop In Tennis Instructors or who want to have a Family Tennis Day event should contact the District office at (619) 299-8647 or SDDTA@yahoo.com.

Ninth Annual Tennis Fest Set for May 3

The Ninth annual Tennis Fest at Balboa TC is ahead, it’s a blast…and it’s free! Register online for this fun-filled afternoon of tennis from noon to 4 p.m. on May 3. Bring your family or a friend along, especially someone who’s never tried tennis. There are 25 courts hosted by 60 top teaching pros, who’ll guide players from the beginning level to advanced. They offer stroke instruction and on-court clinics. And there will be courts for the kids too, from the youngest tykes to tournament level teens. The Hit for Prizes courts are always popular as is the Beat the Pro court. There’ll be raffles, vendor booths, music and more. Pre-registered participants receive a complimentary t-shirt and goodie bag. Log onto sandiegotennis.com.

Of Note: USTA FLEX League, Magers Selected

The spring season of the San Diego Singles USTA FLEX League for men and women is accepting online registrations until April 15. Play starts the week of April 19. Players generally have three choices for each NTRP skill level. The beauty of this league is that you set mutually agreeable times for your matches. Register at ustaflex.com or sandiegotennis.com.

The USTA has chosen Gretchen Magers to play for the ‘09 Margaret Court Cup team at the Senior World Team Championships in Mallorca, Spain. Magers is just entering the 45s, having competed on the Young Cup (W40s) in ‘06 in Australia and in ‘07 in South Africa. Both times the teams returned to the U.S. as champions. “It is such an honor to represent our country in this international event,” Magers said.

Abid/Meister Win Pac Coast Championships

The 120th Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championships is the second oldest tennis event in the United States, having begun in 1890 in Monterey to promote real estate sales. Originally the best East and West Coast players competed, which inspired the Davis Cup. Some of the many past winners who became  stars include Jack Kramer, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Arthur Ashe and John McEnroe. It’s been held at the La Jolla Beach and TC for 66 years.

This time, the title went to UCLA’s Mohamed Abid and Nicolas Meister out of a huge field. In a tough semifinal, Abid/Meister faced Rice University’s Bruno Rosa/Isamu Tachibana, eventually pulling out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win to reach the final. Waiting for them were Christoph Muller/Tobia Scheil who’d faced an independent duo in the semis, locals Charles Hoeveler/Bijan Moallemi. Muller/Scheil won in straight sets. The final proved to be another three-setter for Abid/Meister as they claimed victory 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

William J. Kellogg, tournament director and president of the club, said, “This was by far the largest field we have ever had with 90 teams from all casino over the country. The size of the draw was matched by the quality of the matches. This was the strongest group of entries we have had in many years and produced outstanding match-ups from the first day forward.”

San Diego State Leads Mountain West

The San Diego State men’s team lead the Mountain West conference. They stand at 1-0 in conference play and are 5-5 overall. Back-to-back wins over USD (4-3), their cross-town rival, and UC- Irvine (6-1) helped. Achim Ceban No. 1 took out USD’s star Dean Jackson 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. Playing fourth singles, Giovanni Vaglietti edged Nicola Bubnic 6-4, 6-4 and Tim Schultz van Endert at five scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Nils Schive. A 6-1 loss to Fresno State was a brief interruption before their 5-2 win against Middle Tennessee State.
The SD State women hold the No.  34 ranking and are also at the top of their conference with an 8-3 overall record. The team, mostly freshmen and sophomores, is anchored by seniors Holly Bagshaw and Esther Cadua. Bagshaw is 12-7 in singles and 10-5 in doubles; Cadua is 5-14 (S) and 6-10 (D). After a 7-0 loss to No. 10 USC they beat Arizona 4-3, took a 4-2 hit from Long Beach State and posted a 4-3 victory over Pepperdine.

Locals Honored with SoCal Awards

At the SCTA annual meeting, Eric Mann received an SCTA Service Award for his many years of coaching juniors. As a member of the SCTA Junior Tennis Council and his involvement in junior competition, he has successfully worked with youngsters to improve their tennis and their lives. He heads the San Diego Competition Training Center.
The Curt Condon Spirit Award, named for one of San Diego’s most admired tennis pros and tennis ambassadors, was presented to the Condon family. Condon, who passed away last year after a long battle with brain cancer, was the SCTA Head Verifier for the USTA League program for many years. His family accepted the award. He was an inspiration to everyone who met him as he made it a point to pass on his positive approach to tennis and life. Even as his illness progressed, he always had a kind word and a thank you to those around him.

Toreros Men Struggle, Women Impressive

The University of San Diego men, ranked 63rd, stand at 1-1 in conference play and are 4-10 overall. They’ve lost seven of their last eight matches although pitted against No. 21 Oklahoma State, the Toreros lost a close one. They picked up the first two points when junior Charl Wolmarans at No. 2  and freshman Nicola Bubnic at No. 4 won in straight sets. Oklahoma scored at No.’s five and six, but Chris Coetzee gave USD the 3-2 lead at No. 3  when he won a three-setter. The Cowboys came back to tie the match with a win as Olesandr Nedovyesov edged sophomore Dean Jackson in three sets. Oklahoma won the doubles point for the 4-3 win.
The Torero women, ranked No. 47 are 1-0 in conference play and 5-1 overall. They upset 35th ranked Sacramento State 7-0. Juliette Coupez, playing No. 1, defeated Luba Schifris. The rest of the USD ladies won in straight sets — Maja Sujica at two, Tammy Kevey at three, Maria Reygarda at five and Alexandra Demidova at six.

Triton Women Leading CCAA Standings

The 14th-ranked UC-San Diego women’s  team ended their eight-match homestand by defeating California Collegiate Athletic Association foe  Cal State Stanislaus 6-3.  The win gave UCSD a record of 10-3 overall and 7-0 in the CCAA.
Senior Tessa Tran helped lead the way, winning 6-0, 6-0 and teaming with Valerie Tang for another shut-out, 8-0, in doubles.
Head coach Liz LaPlante’s also received a doubles win from Natalie Varnay and Anita Athavale at No. 3. Taskeen Bains won at No. 2 singles,  while Ina Dan won at No. 3.
The UC-San Diego men’s  team beat Cal Poly Pomona 6-3 by earning two of three doubles points as Kazumi Negishi and Erik Elliott won at the No. 1 and Vincent Nguyen and Brandon Stevenson won at No. 2. Nguyen, Naveen Dixit, Jake Fellow and Samuel Ling won their singles matches for the win.  UCSD improved to 5-7 on the year.
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