2 super senior teams, 2 titles

One super senior team was defending its state championship, the other was trying for its first title last weekend.

Both were successful. The Phil Green Tennis Academy's 3.5 men's team won its second consecutive USA Tennis Florida super senior team title and Westin Innisbrook Resort's 3.5 women's team captured its first.

East Lake Woodlands and Countryside Country Club hosted the state championships. Twenty-five women's teams and 22 men's competed.

"The individual matches were definitely tougher this year," said PGTA's Joe Gari of New Port Richey. "Last year, we won our matches 3-0 until the playoff round. This year, almost all of them were 2-1."

PGTA first faced Tallahassee. David Wisotsky and Fred Elflein won in straight sets in No. 2 as did Richard Hough and Glenn Merrer in No. 3.

Hough and Merrer won in No. 1 against Rockledge in PGTA's second match and Dick Lashley and Bob Anderson added a second point in No. 3 for the team's second 2-1 victory.

Merrer teamed with John Kuhn in No. 2 to beat Vero Beach 7-5, 6-4 in the team's next match. Elflein and Willie Coquelet won 6-1, 6-1 in No. 1 for another 2-1 win.

With three wins earned in its flight, one more victory would advance the squad to the championship match.

Straight-set wins by Coquelet and Elflein in No. 1 and Lashley and Anderson in No. 2, combined with a third-set tiebreak win by Merrer and Hough in No. 3 gave PGTA a 3-0 victory over Lakeland.

In the championship, PGTA faced Citrus Hills, which finished first in its flight of six.

With the team score even at 1, Coquelet and Elflein went to work in No. 2 doubles. A 4-6 loss in the first set was answered by a 6-2 win in the second. Coquelet finished it by winning a third-set tiebreaker 11-9, giving PGTA the state title.

"Each point was so important in that tiebreak set," Gari said. "It was like deja vu for us from last year when the championship came down to a tiebreaker.

Innisbrook shuffled its lineup for each of its five matches.

Phyllis Gary and Nancy Kraemer led off Innisbrook's match with Satellite Beach with a 6-3, 6-2 win in No. 1 doubles. Sue Luidens and Maureen Sternberg clinched the team's 2-1 win with a 6-1, 6-1 victory in No. 2.

Gary and Kraemer won in straight sets in No. 2 against Jacksonville and Sternberg teamed with Anne Hammond for a 7-5, 6-1 win in No. 1.

With two down and three matches to go for the championship, Innisbrook defeated Ocala 2-1 thanks to the play of Gary and Kraemer in No. 1 and Luidens and Sternberg in No. 2.

Luidens and Marilyn Linker survived a third-set tiebreaker to win in No. 1 against Sarasota. Hammond and Sternberg in No. 2 and Gary and Kraemer in No. 3 produced a hard-fought 3-0 win.

In the final match, Innisbrook faced Naples, which was also unbeaten in its four matches.

Luidens and Linker won in No. 1 6-4, 6-4. Hammond and Sternberg won a 7-6, 6-4 battle in No. 2. Gary and Kraemer stayed perfect with a 6-4, 6-3 win in No. 3 to wrap up the 3-0 victory and the title.

"It was just unbelievable and the whole team was so full of team spirit," Sternberg said. "Nancy flew in from New Jersey to play for us and during the season we had Nancy, Sue and Midge (Spaulding) play for us so we wouldn't have to default any matches.

"Everyone was so supportive. Members from Innisbrook came to support us, and we celebrated with a tailgate champagne party afterwards."

MORE STATE CHAMPIONS: The Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club won the women's 4.0 title.

Naples won both the men's and women's 3.0 titles and Sarasota the men's 4.0.

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