Austin Tennis Academy News

January 15, 2010

San Antonio and Austin Host Superchamp Athletes; Offerdahl Takes 18s Title

Austin Tennis Academy’s super champ athletes competed in the first major zone of 2010 this past weekend. The 16s and 18s went south to the San Antonio Super Championship Major Zone while the 12s and 14s stayed home for the Austin Super Championship Major Zone.

Jeff Offerdahl began the year with a bang by taking the boys’ 18s A draw championship. Jeff won six straight matches without dropping a set. In the semifinals he beat A. Narayana 6-2, 6-2 before beating Ben Guthrie in the finals 6-3, 6-4.

Chris Dale also competed in the boys’ 18s, reaching the quarterfinals with three tough wins. Dale defeated B. Davis 6-3, 6-4 followed by B. Minavi 6-0, 7-5. He then faced teammate Chase Curry who retired due to an injury at 4-6, 5-5. Chase was coming off of two straight wins to reach the round of 16. Charlie Shin, Conor O’Rourke and Hunter Goertz played hard in two highly competitive matches each in the 18s draw.

Dylan Ritter rebounded after dropping his first match in the boys’ 14s B draw to string together five wins and take the consolation championship. He defeated the five seed Jean Oyardo 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 in the semifinals and Andrew Wright in the finals 6-2, 6-4.

Aaron Chaffee fought his way to the semifinals of the boys’ 18s B draw by winning three straight matches. First he defeated Cotter McClinton 6-2, 6-1, then Cesar Ramirez 7-6(1), 6-2. In the quarterfinals Aaron knocked out Sean Rodriguez 6-4, 6-3 to secure a semifinal spot.

In the boys’ 16s A draw, Josh Hagar opened play with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Moreiras. He then out battled Evan Nix for a 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 10-8 victory to advance to the round of 16. Jacob Herndon also reached the round of 16 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mitchell Martell. Connor Curry earned an opening round upset over the number 9 seeded Audy Frye 6-3, 4-6, 10-2. Rob Steinwedell competed well in two tough matches through the weekend.

Raymond Traweek worked his way to the round of 16 by earned two victories in the boys’ 16s B draw. He beat Brent Gutierrez 6-0, 6-0 before eliminating Cameron Hiller 6-1, 6-3.

Allie Burak beat Emily Thorson 6-3, 6-2 to reach the round of 32 of the girls’ 14s draw. Carli Knezevich defeated Emily Funk 6-1, 6-1 after dropping her first round match. Maggie O’Meara secured a spot in the round of 16 after taking down Isabel Prado 6-4, 6-3 and Sierra Stapper 6-3, 6-2.

In the girls’ 16s A draw, Nicole Karaklis fought her way to a tough three-set win in her first round match over Courtney Yeung, 2-6, 6-3, 11-9.

In the girls’ 12s, Katherine Spencer earned valuable experience in two matches through the weekend. Molly Fischer fought her way to the quarterfinals. She beat Alexandria Maciel 6-0, 6-1, then the five seeded Hunter Bleser 6-2, 1-2.

Breck Spencer, Jake Berber, Zane Ritter and Ben Smith played two difficult matches each in the boys’ 14s A draw. In the B draw, Conor O”Meara defeated Daniel Saa 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 to reach the round of 16. Matthew Milliken took down Thomas Whitehead 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 to join Conor in the round of 16.

The Ritter brothers then teamed up to reach the finals of the boys 14s doubles draw, beating Koduru and Rose in the semifinals 8-3.

In the boys’ 12s, Erik Kerrigan competed well in two matches against Quashi Philips and Jack Wang. In doubles, Erik teamed up to Cepeda to beat Gao and Ogbevire 8-1.

Kate and Claire Cahill competed in two matches each through the weekend.

Look for these junior athletes to build on this success and experience in next months major zones in Corpus Christi and Dallas and through the year. Enter Now!

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