Community

Countryside hopes to keep run going

By NANCY MORGAN, Times Sports Correspondent
Published October 25, 2007

After having never played at a national tennis tournament, four players at Countryside Country Club are making their second trip in the same month.

Two weeks ago, Jim Serrabella, Ed Ostiguy, Dave Buell and Rich Boderek traveled with Countryside's 3.0 adult team to its national contest in Las Vegas.

Leaving this week for the USTA National Senior 3.0 League Championships in Indian Wells, Calif., is Countryside's team of nine, which includes Serrabella, Ostiguy, Buell and Boderek from the adult team and senior captain Dave Foster, Mike Barnett, Kyle Duncan, Larry Livingston and Bob Poffenberger.

"Everyone said our trip to the adult nationals would be tough, and it definitely was," Ostiguy said. "It was even better than we thought - the Puerto Rican team was tough, and so was Texas and Northern California in our flight. We knew adjusting to the hard courts would be a challenge, as well as the altitude and dry air. The courts were even faster than what we practiced on in Florida.

"First, at senior nationals, we know we won't have to play against any 23-year-olds, and we hope to get some good competitive matches. That's what we like."

The senior squad plans to arrive a couple days early to acclimate to California and the hard courts.

"The last two months we've been practicing on hard courts to get better used to the surface and the different bounce of the ball," Foster said. "We've also been practicing playing in as many different partnerships as possible to be ready for any contingency.

"I've researched the teams we'll play, but it's hard to tell. Basically, the best teams do the best, and we just have to be ready to play whoever we meet."

Countryside faces USTA sections Southern and Caribbean on Friday, followed by Mid-Atlantic and Southwest on Saturday. A top finish in its flight and it will advance to Sunday's semifinal round, and possibly the final later Sunday.

"The chances of our being in the top four Saturday will be difficult, but we're not going there to lose," Foster said. "We've been working hard to prepare and we're certainly excited about going there."

In their initial match Friday, Foster plans to square up against Southern with the same lineup that won the final match at the state tournament in May. Pairing up will be Serrabella with Duncan, Ostiguy and Buell and Boderek and Poffenberger. Barnett and Livingston will rotate in while Foster is a nonplaying captain. That role, Foster said, may work out best for him because he will be better able to serve as a full-time captain.

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 victory over Pacific NW launched SPTC into semifinal action with Missouri Valley. A 2-1 win there advanced Florida champion SPTC against Southwest for the national title. 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 month in Daytona Beach, Royal Racquet Club's 8.0 adult mixed doubles team reached the state final, falling 2-1 to Tampa. To reach the final, Royal played to a 3-0 record in flight competition and beat Treasure Coast 2-1 in a semifinal.

McMullen-based 9.0 was just a position win shy of advancing to the state semifinal round. Royal was 2-1 in flight action, including a 2-1 win over Naples that advanced to semifinal play.

McMullen's 10.0 squad was 0-3 in round robin competition with Jacksonville.

- A captains meeting is planned for Wed., 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. Jacqui Brunton, USTA Florida's director of leagues, plans to attend.

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. In girls competition, No. 2 Wenming Zhai in the 10, top seed Kelley Walker the 12 and Megan Lauser the 14 posted final wins, as did top seeds Mitchell Radford in the boys 10 and Garrett Gatlin the 12.

Reaching the final round were Owen Melin in the boys 10, William Maizel the 12 and Kristian Beck the 16.

Consolation wins were earned by Tetyana Kornilova girls 10, Ilana Rakita (12), Winston Ojeda (boys 10), Jorge Alvarez (12), top seed Jackson Kettell (14) and Ryan Aughtry (16).

-Alexandra Kitchen played to the girls 12-and-under final in the Orange County Fall Sectionals. Rain forced the cancellation of the final match with top seed Julia O'Loughlin of Boca Raton.

COMING UP: Pretty in Pink, a one-day women's doubles tournament, is Nov. 2 at Eastlake Woodlands. Call 785-2212. ... The 15th Annual Frenchy's Gumbo Tennis Classic is Nov. 16-18 at the McMullen Tennis Complex. Call 669-1919.

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 October 24, 2007, 20:16:15]