Austin Tennis Academy News: First of Three 2007 Spenco Opens Successfully Concludes

April 1, 2007

First of Three 2007 Spenco Opens Successfully Concludes

This year the Austin Tennis Academy made the commitment to offer it's players more competitive opportunities. The first of three new tournaments was played this weekend at ATA, St. Stephen's, Lake Travis High School and Dripping Springs High School. Over 350 entrants played both singles and doubles over the prior weekend.

With 24 draws from 12s to 18s, The Spenco Spring Open at Austin Tennis Academy was a very successful tournament. Austin Tennis Academy players competed courageously this weekend. Their competitive drive and willingness to stay focused is a great signal of improvement for our Academy.

Matthew Lee lost a marathon 3.5 hour battle Saturday in the qualified 12s singles draw. Competing against Texas’ #37 Super-Champ 12s Jacob Belanger, Matthew fell 5-7 in a three set thriller. Greyson Brilliant fell in similar style: barely, to a Texas top 50 Super-Champ. Both Lee and Brilliant are Champ level, nearly defeating Super-Champ players. Conor O’Meara played well to win his first round match before falling to a Super-Champ player as well. Josh Minor took out his first round opponent before (2) seed Sean Spiesman defeated him. Sled Allen lost his first round, then rebounded in the backdraw, defeating Liam Spiesman 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals. In non-qualified action, Pierce Kelley advanced to the semifinals, falling to Ryder Billo in 3 sets.

Josh Hagar picked up an important win, overcoming soft-handed Miguel Alda 6-3, 7-5. In the quarterfinal against Michael Garza (3), Hagar did not bring the same focus and "overplayed" according to Coach Brian Notis. Conor O’Rourke won three matches to advance to the 14s qualified semifinal round, losing a close third set breaker to finalist Michael Garza 7-6(4). Charlie Shin played to tiebreakers in each of his first two sets against Russell Naumann. The backdraw semifinal match went the distance, with Naumann taking the third set 6-3. A determined Naumann also defeated Eliot Blat in the backdraw quarterfinal. In non-qualified action, Garrett Callen made the backdraw finals, falling to (1) seed J. Lewis.

Bryan Mitchell won four matches before Jayant Kapoor overwhelmed Mitchell in the 16s Non-qualified final, 6-2, 6-0. Kapoor also defeated Ford Rylander in a one sided quarterfinal, 6-2, 6-1. In the qualified 16s draw, (1) seed Cameron Relic could not stand up to (6) seed Christopher Dale 6-2, 6-3.

Unseeded, under aged and to a lesser extent unknown in the 18s qualified draw, Jeffrey Offerdahl overcame dropping the first set in the semifinal to (1) seed Jon Walter of College Station. Jeffrey roared back in the final frames, advancing to the final 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Offerdahl won the final in straight sets. Jonathan Stockdale won two backdraw rounds before falling in a straight set final. (2) seed Ethan Horn had designs on making the final, but was derailed in the semifinal round by Robert Sajovich 6-2, 7-6(4).

Brittany Brewster advanced to the girls 12s qualified final unseeded without dropping a set. In the final, Brewster fell to Austinite Meredith Hopson 6-2, 6-1. Claire Cahill lost to eventual Champion Katherine Daugherty 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3. Daugherty split sets three times on her way to the 16s qualified title. Kate Cahill lost in the second round 6-4, 6-1. Blair Jones bounced back from a hard fought 7-5, 6-2 first round loss to Chelsea Horan. Jones won the backdraw without losing a set.

While ATA found some singles success in the Spenco Open, doubles shined brightest on this weekend. In the boys 12s qualified, three out of four semifinal teams: Allen-Kocher, Brilliant-Minor and Kivlin-Lee were ATA teams. Offerdahl and Josh Hagar, tested by Mayo-O’Rourke in the semis, won the 14s doubles draws with high level play. Ethan Horn and partner Cory Kowal won the 18s draw, playing one match close 8-6.

Maggie O’Meara and Briitany Brewster avenged Brewster’s singles loss, defeating Meredith Hopson and Nicole Karaklis for the girls 12s title. Unseeded Megan O’Rourke and Alysha Kishan advanced to the final of the girls 18s draw, losing to Janie and Jennifer Nowland 8-6.

In the Texoma Jr Circuit #7 - Wichita Falls, Zoe Kearl dominated the G14 qualified division winning the event. Zoe learned some powerful competitive lessons, relating back to the coaching staff that she "did what needed to be done to win". Great job Zoe.

More important than doubles or singles titles at the Spenco Spring Open, ATA players competed hard and focused well, two elements that ensure improvement and future titles of all kinds.

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