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Letter to the editor

Moll regains love for tennis in Florida

By NANCY MORGAN, Tennis
Published October 24, 2007

Growing up around Philadelphia,Kathy Moll liked all sports and played any that included a ball, though tennis didn't come along until her junior year in high school.

Moll played in high school, and after graduating from Westchester State with a degree in physical education, she played little or no tennis from the early 1970s to when she moved to Florida about 20 years later to work at Tampa General.

"I always played recreational sports like softball, basketball and flag football, but not until I moved to Florida did I decide to play tennis again," Moll said. "Here, I realized you could play tennis year round."

Moll took lessons at St. Petersburg College, and they paid off. She joined the St. Petersburg city singles league, played USTA leagues around the area and, two years ago, joined the county-wide ultimate tennis singles league.

The last couple of years, Moll said, she had played more doubles than singles, but decided to play more singles while running was still a good option in her game.

In the summer ultimate tennis playoffs, Moll advanced to the women's 4.5-minus semifinal against nemesis Pat Kelly. A win there advanced Moll to the final, which she won in straight sets. This fall, Moll is competing in the 5.0 division.

"Reaching the semifinal and beating Pat Kelly, who I hadn't beaten over a 10-year period, is what I'm most proud of at this point," Moll said.

In addition to playing tennis, Moll tries to combine her love of travel with opportunities to attend professional tennis events. Along with about a half dozen trips to Key Biscayne for the Ericsson Open, Moll has coordinated trips to New York during the U.S. Open, to Paris during the French Open and next year to New Zealand and Australia during the Australia Open.

NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION: St. Petersburg Tennis Center's 8.5 senior women's team claimed a USTA National League Championship last weekend in Indian Wells, Calif.

Armed with the minimum six players, the three-doubles position squad was unbeaten in five matches, winning 11 of 15 possible positions.

A pair of 2-1 wins over USTA sections Southern California and Eastern combined with a 3-0 win over Pacific NW launched SPTC into a semifinal with Missouri Valley. A 2-1 win there moved SPTC to the final to play Southwest. Again, a 2-1 win prevailed for the Florida squad.

Playing for SPTC were doubles teams Jackie Keller and Andrea Martin, Lisa Grattan and Liz Leigh,and Sharon Benson and Leslie Godwin.

MORE LEAGUE NEWS: This week, Countryside Country Club's 3.0 senior men travel to Indian Wells, Calif., for the USTA National League Championships.

- A captains' meeting is planned Nov.7 at Feather Sound Country Club for St. Petersburg/Clearwater senior, super senior and 70s leagues. The social begins at 6 p.m. followed by a 6:30 meeting with local league coordinators to review new rules and procedures.

NET SHOTS: Local players Shachaamah Brown and Anastasha Worlds competed in last weekend's Little Mo National Championships in Austin, Texas. In the nine-and-under girls division, Worlds reached the quarterfinal before falling to the No. 2 seed. Second-seed Brown reached the semifinal round in the girls 8 consolation.

- Area players collected five singles titles in last weekend's Haunted Rookie Tournament at the Largo Tennis Center. Wenming Zhai girls 10, Kelley Walker (girls 12) and Megan Lauser (girls 14) won, as did Mitchell Radford (boys 10) and Garrett Gatlin (boys 12.)

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.

[Last modified October 23, 2007, 23:46:36]