The ATA junior athletes have been competing in tournaments across the state over the past few weekends. In events for all different levels and ages, the ATA players proved they had made strides over the summer, with impressive results across the state.

 

At the Bryan College Station Back To School ZAT, two of ATA’s younger athletes made the most of their opportunities. Haydn Steffes in the boy’s 10s draw, and Hannah Harrod in the girl’s 12s draw, each went undefeated to take the tournament championships. Haydn and Hannah each won three straight matches on the way to the title in their respective draws.  Hannah qualified for the Champs division by winning the tournament.

 

The 12s and 14s super champ players competed in the Bob Faulkner Super Championship Major Zone. Jake Berber and Payton Holden each earned solid results in the boy’s 14s A draws, reaching the round of 16 in singles and taking the tournament championship in doubles.

 

Jake defeated A.J. Barrington 6-4, 7-5, and while Payton outplayed Christopher Muniz 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 to earn their spots in the round of 16.

 

The duo won 4 straight doubles matches; taking down the number 1 seeded pairing of Haynes and Perez in the final round, 9-8.

 

In the B draw, Tyler Wilkie and Rahul Gorti fought their way to a spot in the final round to earn a 2nd place finish in doubles.

 

In Arlington at the 16s and 18s super major zone, Meredith Parks and her doubles partner, Hannah Peterson, won four consecutive matches to claim the tournament crown. Entering as the number 4 seeds, the duo exceeded expectations when they took down the top seeded pairing of Rudico and Young in the finals, 8-5.

 

In singles, Ms Parks won her first two matches before falling in the round of 16.

 

Hunter Goertz, competing in the boys 18s A draw, won 3 matches to secure a semifinal spot. Hunter took down P. McGuiness in the round of 16 6-4, 6-3, before defeating G. Bhakthavachalam in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-2. In the same draw, Elliot Blatt won two matches to reach the round of 16. He beat N. Damarasingu followed by teammate Jacob Herndon, 7-5, 6-4.

 

ATA sent a team of 9 players to Corpus to compete in the HEB Summer Champ Major Zone. Jesse Wikso, coming into the boys 12s draw as the number 3 seed, reached the semifinals. Wikso won two matches while only dropping 3 total games before going down in a tight 3 set match in the semifinals.

 

Congratulations to all of the ATA junior athletes who competed in the August tournaments, and good luck to all in September!