Austin Tennis Academy News

November 27, 2007

College Station 16s/18s SuperChamps: ATA Finalists In Several Draws and Divisions

Playing at one of the most distinguished and high capacity NCAA facilities in the U.S., the Texas junior players most likely to play on that stage or one like it competed at Texas A & M University in the 16s and 18s Bryan and College Station SuperChamp Major Zone, November 9th-12th. ATA turned in high level results, with Blake Davis earning second place in the 18s draw as a 16 year old, and Conor O’Rourke capturing finalist honors in the 16s division, among other outstanding Austin Tennis Academy efforts. ATA Head Coach Jack Newman and Academy Co-Director Cristina Moros were on-site staff through the weekend.

In the 16s ‘A’ draw, Jeff Offerdahl beat Zachry Bruchmiller to advance to the round of 16. Head Coach Newman observed Jeff “effectively working to force errors with aggressive all-court tennis to complement his stellar defensive game”. Offerdahl lost to (5) seed Patrick Clynes in two close sets. In the same age division, Conor O’Rourke won four matches, including a semi-final 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over Aiden Deleon where Conor showed “excellent game style recognition”, according to Coach Newman. Conor earned finalist honors, losing to Tomas Stillman in a close 3 set dual. Taylor Shamshiri beat David Levin in straight sets before falling to (4) seed Coy Dobson in the second round. Este Kaufmann fell to Jason Turnwald 6-3, 6-3, showing improvement. In girls 16s, Claire Cahill beat (9) Jane Pinkston in straight sets, then Madison Rabson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the back-draw finals. Claire’s result is the second consecutive SuperChamp Major Zone where she competed on the final day of tournament play and Coach Moros points out “an indicator of her recent strong commitment.” Zoe Kearl also won several matches to advance to the 16s back-draw final. Zoe won 3 matches on her way. Hailey Posas won her first round main-draw match over Jackie Fisher 6-3, 6-2, while Shannon McLellan lost her first set to Dhwani Shaw 6-0, then fought hard to win the second set in a tiebreaker. Shaw beat McLellan 7-5 in the third, but McLellan’s continued efforts earned her a back-draw win over Crystal Sauceda. In the same division, Kate Cahill lost two close sets to Lisa Dennis 7-5, 6-4.

In boys 18s, the youngest edition of the Davis tennis trilogy showed he may yet be the fiercest.16 year old Blake won four rounds, upending (2) seed Austin Klores on his way to the final. Blake fell in a great contest to (5) seed Austin Brooks 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Davis’ efforts show he is, as Coach Newman put it “once again a force to be reckoned with in Texas tennis”, after battling Osgood-Schlatter condition for much of 2006. In other 18s, Jonathan Stockdale lost a close match with Billy Bishop 6-3, 7-5 before beating (9) seed Bryson Carter 6-2, 6-2 in his second match. In girls 18s, Mary Bain advanced to the back-draw final round, beating Abigail Hogan to make the final day. And, Blair Jones also roared through the back-draw, beating Alexis Weinning 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the 18s final.

The progress for ATA is clear. Three months ago, ATA did not have the quantity or range of competitors playing on Monday, usually the final day of competition at a SuperChamp Major Zone. In both back and main-draws, ATA competitors are regularly competing on Mondays, and the ATA staff is very enthused by that progress. The Austin Tennis Academy will travel to the Dec. 7th Super-Champ Major Zone in Dallas, the Cotton Bowl.

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