Balboa Needs Money for More Lights
Sometimes there’s a waiting list of 10 people per hour for a night court at Balboa Tennis Club. And that’s with 19 lighted courts. The club’s goal is to light their last six courts, a bonus for working people and night league players. The price tag for the project is $150,000. Since the beginning of the year Balboa Tennis Club has focused on its “For the Love of the Game” fundraising campaign. Members have been contributing and $3,000 is in the bank, but there’s a long way to go. The club is selling a one-year court sponsorship for $250. Buy one and you’ll have a plaque attached to the net with your name on it. Each court will have two sponsors, so pick your favorite court and your favorite side. There are no city funds available (surprise, surprise) so the new lights depend on donations. Any deep pockets out there that can really spur these improvements will be welcomed with open arms. To donate call 619-295-4242 or visit balboatennis.com.
Davis Wins National Girls’ 16s at Barnes
They came from all over the country, 192 of the best girls’ 16 and under players, to compete for the USTA National Hard Court 16 National Championship at Barnes Tennis Center. Lauren Davis (OH) lived up to her top seeding. She never stumbled en route to the championship, defeating 10th seed Chanelle Van Nguyen (FL) 6-0, 6-4 for the title. Third seed Kyle McPhillips (OH) won bronze. Ten unseeded players advanced to the round of 32. One was Danielle Flores of Carlsbad who lost in three sets to Ojai’s 6th seeded Lynda Exopleas. Doubles champs are Georgia’s Whitney Kay/Megan Kurey who triumphed over Davis/Nicole Flower (OH) 6-2, 6-3 to collect gold.
SD Teams Head to League Nationals
Sunbow Park in Chula Vista fielded its first USTA League team and for the seven women, all originally from Mexico City though they never knew each other there, hit the jackpot. Yaz Gomez captained her “Red Fury” 2.5 team all the way to the winner’s circle at the SoCal USTA Sectionals.
Their tennis story began only 18 months ago when Gomez heard about the San Diego District Tennis Association Drop In Tennis program for adults to learn tennis run by Juan Villaneuva at Sunbow Park. “I thought it would be fun to learn,” Gomez said. She and her friends Begoña Gomez Samperio, Leticia Blancafort, Gabriela Savago and Sharon Michelson signed up. Later Villaneuva told them about the USTA League and they thought that would be a great way to really learn the game. “We didn’t know how to score a game or how to do a tiebreak,” she said. But they enrolled in the USTA and she asked sisters-in-law Lizette Ferrero-Safa and Alexandra Safa to join their team. By this time they were taking private lessons with Susan Reasons, tennis director at Southwestern College.
Undefeated locally, they headed to the Sectionals where they beat Ventura and San Diego North County to advance. Gomez treated the team to a victory best online casino celebration dinner at her El Agave restaurant in Old Town. Meanwhile her husband had his own party at home with the other husbands!
The Lomas Santa Fe Country Club 3.0 team treks to Tucson for their chance to compete at the Nationals Championships. Diane Maloney captain, Brianna Sullivan, Lise Shanahan, Donna Lebert, Sarah casino online Reeves, Jill Likins, Amy Fullmer, Patricia Jones, Maureen Garland, Marjorie Salzberg, and Doreen Smillie to the Sectional Championship and are they ever excited.
It started out badly for their team when Smillie, their No.1 singles player, was injured in her first game. “We knew we couldn’t count on winning singles which put tremendous pressure on our doubles teams,” Maloney said. Most of them have only been playing for a couple of years. But they had their coach, Marco Casesa, with them for strategy and help. They beat Beach Cities, Temecula Valley, and San Fernando Valley to win their flight and San Gabriel Valley in the final, all by 3-2 scores with the doubles teams winning every match despite their opponents gunning for them.
It was a double face-off for Eric Basart’s La Jolla High School 5.0 team at Sectionals. Orange County fielded the only other 5.0 team, so they met twice to arrive at the winner. In both matches La Jolla HS won 2-1, although the second match hinged on the third set tiebreak. Basart, Jason Welborn, Andrew Wakefield, Brett Buffington Steve Flagg, and Ron Zamarin are off to Indian Wells to try for the big win.
USD Toreros Warming Up for a Hot Season
Coach Sherri Stephens begins her 26th year at USD with high hopes for her women’s team. Juliette Coupez, Marite Raygada and Maja Sujica return as sophomores. Freshman recruits Laura Claus are from Germany and Lise Marbach of France, Coupez’s good friend (the two spent the summer in France playing tournaments), form the solid base of a team.
Brett Masi, the Torero men’s coach, will anchor his team with nationally ranked junior Dean Jackson. Junior Casey Powers, a transfer from Texas Christian, offers additional experience to their team. Ryan Keckley is Masi’s new assistant. He was a top 10 doubles player at Notre Dame two years ago. Masi plans to build a strong foundation for his team after the emotional past two years while their former coach, Tom Hagedorn, fought a losing battle with cancer.
