Austin Tennis Academy News

November 21, 2009

Superchamps Compete in College Station, Earn Two Titles

Austin Tennis Academy’s superchamp qualified athletes traveled to the Bryan College Station Major Zone last weekend, two of whom returned as draw champions.

Jeffrey Offerdahl fought for six straight wins to earn the boys’ 18s A draw championship. Entering as the number 5 seed and leaving on top, Jeff secured his spot amongst the best in Texas. In the quarterfinals, Jeff eliminated the top seeded Alex Van Velzer 6-3, 6-1. Ashok Narayana awaited him in the final four, where Jeff worked for a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Jeff faced Daniel Brown in the finals, who took the first set of the tournament from Jeff. He quickly bounced back, however, earning the win 2-6, 6-2, 10-1.

“It wasn’t tennis ability that won me [the tournament],” Offerdahl said. “It was mental toughness.”

Aaron Chaffee joined Jeff atop the podium, as he too went from being the number 5 seed to the boys’ 16s draw champion. Aaron won 6 matches through the tournament, taking down Jimmy Zhang in the semifinals 7-6, 6-2, and Austin Jones in the finals, 3-6, 7-5, 10-5.

Brooke Hughes won her first five matches to make the final round of her girls’ 16s A draw. Brooke beat Idia Amen in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 4-6, 10-7. In the semifinals Hughes eliminated Farris Cunningham 6-2, 6-4.

Danny Gies reached the finals of his draw after winning four matches over the weekend. Gies met J. Chang in the semifinals, eliminating him 7-6, 6-2. In the semifinal round Danny defeated Daniel Hernandez 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.

Also in the boys’ 18s A draw, Taylor Shamshiri defeated Sean Liu in his opening round match, 7-5, 6-0. Chase Curry beat Aaron Poliak 7-6, 6-3. Hunter Goertz and Charlie Shin rebounded from first round losses by winning their next round matches. Shin defeated Erich Bein 6-2, 6-2 and Goertz beat Dominique Alexander 6-0, 6-0. Chris Dale and Avery Rux each fell in two tough matches through the tournament.

Morgan Barnhill beat her opening round opponent 6-3, 6-3 in the girls’ 18s A draw. Claire Cahill bounced back after falling first round to beat Kathleen Daugherty 6-1, 6-4. Kate Cahill was in the consolation 3rd round when play was stopped.

In the boys’ 16s A draw, Austin Mayo took down Charles Boyce 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the round of 32.

Rob Steinwedell beat James Mao in his first round match of the boys’ 16s B draw, 6-1, 6-3. Raymond Traweek played hard in two matches through the tournament.

Track these junior athletes’ results in next months major zone in Dallas.

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