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Six adult teams claim region titles

By NANCY MORGAN
Published July 11, 2007

Six of nine local adult league champions claimed USTA Florida Central Region League titles last weekend and will compete for state championships next month.

Area winners included two adult women's teams and four men's in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater league.

Claiming wins among the women were Countryside Country Club's 2.5 and 3.5 teams. Among the men were Countryside 3.0, Largo 3.5, Seminole Lake Tennis Center 4.0 and McMullen 4.5.

"After we lost our first match to Orlando 3-2, we decided to stack our doubles with our strongest combinations," Largo captain David Halliday said. "We won all three doubles against Tampa to even our record at 1-1.

"We beat Tampa again 3-2 and then won over Orlando 3-2."

After Orlando beat Tampa for the second time, Largo and Orlando shared identical records at 3-1. To determine the region champion, the tie-break format was utilized with Largo edging out Orlando by losing the fewest sets overall, 20 to 22.

"It was a great weekend with good camaraderie all around," Halliday said. "All three teams were pretty equal, so the competition was good. By the final match, we were all sitting around together just enjoying the matches."

Seminole captain Brian Cooper was happy with the team's success, despite a gruelling schedule and stiff competition.

"We squeaked by our first match 3-2 against Polk County and then beat Orlando 5-0," Cooper said. "Heading in to our last match, we both were 2-0, so it was a key match."

Seminole defeated Tampa 4-1 for a 3-0 record.

McMullen played to a 4-0 record with three 5-0 wins and one 4-1 win.

"The matches were a lot closer than the score indicates," McMullen captain Steve Talner said. "The competition was as tough as we expected. Of the 17 individual positions we played, we won 16 of them and five went to third-set tiebreakers, which we won."

The state tournament is Aug. 10-12 in Daytona Beach.

SEMINOLE TEAM: Seminole Lake Tennis Center welcomed Ray Reppert as its tennis director in February, followed by Tommy Thompson in March as the club's junior development program director.

The two first met in the mid 1970s while working for the late Harry Hopman in Port Washington, N.Y. Together, the duo plans to offer Hopman-like training, including that for points, long matches and different opponents, at a reasonable cost with emphasis on how to train, repetition, being disciplined and hitting every ball with a purpose.

Reppert, a Pennsylvania native, was a scholar-athlete at Pittsburgh and has trained professionals such as Monica Seles and Steffi Graf. He has coached Continental and Federation cup teams from Yugoslavia, as well as the women's teams at the College of William and Mary, and University of Miami Ohio.

Thompson was the personal traveling coach of Vitas Gerulaitus, Andrea Jaeger and Andres Gomez before helping establish the Hopman/Saddlebrook International Tennis Academy in Wesley Chapel.

Michael Tarkowski and Marton Balla join Reppert and Thompson on the Seminole staff.

NET SHOTS: Area winners in last weekend's Summer Super Series at Royal Racquet Club were Julia Teytelbaum in the 16-and-under girls, Danielle Collins in the 18 round robin and Brandon Anandan in boys 18. Doubles winners were Emily Dvorak and Teytelbaum in the girls 16, and Anandan and Bjorn Fratangelo in boys 18.

COMING UP: The Treasure Island Junior Championships begin Saturday at the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club. Call 367-5479. ... The Countryside Summer NTRP Designated Tournament is this weekend at Countryside Country Club. Call 796-1136.

News for this column may be faxed to Nancy Morgan, 445-4119; e-mailed to namorgan@tampabay.rr.com or sent to 710 Court St., Clearwater, FL 33756. Please include phone number.

[Last modified July 10, 2007, 20:41:55]