USTA FLORIDA 2013-14 FALL LEAGUES UNDERWAY

As we know USTA Florida provides myriad opportunities for

Susie Bessire-
Local League Coordinator

league competition throughout the year, and the fall season certainly is no exception. Like the Lee County Women's Tennis League, the sheer number of divisions require a dedicated post.

Besides, having about 900 participants in such a wide range of age and ability levels surely warrants its own post, don't you think? I think so! Susie Bessire, the Local League Coordinator for USTA Florida tells me that there are a few more teams still in the making at the higher levels, so I'll cover them during my first update down the road a piece. Until then, here's what we have (as of 10/6).

Adult 55 & Over

Greg Natale & Steve Alonzi

The 4.0 Men’s drew two teams to the competition, with Mike Stern heading a FMRC team and Greg Natale leading a team for Miromar Lakes. The teams have yet to begin play and matches run through early December.
 

3.5 Men’s with Hideaway (Ed Marcelo) Fort Myers (Wayne Jackiew) and Vivante (Jim Ulrich). Play began October 1st, with FMRC taking all three courts from Vivante. The action continues on Tuesday the 8th when Vivante travels to The Hideaway.

4.0 Women’s

Three teams enter the fray in the 4.0 Women’s/Day League. Jan Lutz captains a team from FMRC, Tammy Topp leads a team from Vivante, and Sharon McQueen heads a team from Seminole Lakes. Matches are scheduled to begin this week and run through the first week in December.

Adult 40 & Over Mixed

7.0 Mixed Doubles League features 10 teams, including two

Dan Campbell

each from FMRC (captains Mike Stern and Virginia Nicodemi) and Park Meadow Tennis Center (captains Dan Campbell and Cindy Cheslosky). Both FMRC teams started strong this past weekend, with Nicodemi’s team sweeping all three courts from Cape Coral Racquet Club (captain Richard Boisvert), and Stern’s team sweeping all three from Seminole Lakes (captain Cheryl Wrightsman).

Joanne Hannah’s Cape Coral Yacht Club (CCYC) team is also off to a good start, downing Cheslosky’s Park Meadow team without dropping a set. Robert Madean’s Vivante team had a tougher time against Campbell’s Park Meadow team, losing Court 1 and winning Court 3 in deciding set tiebreaks, and clinching with a straight-set win on Court 2. Cypress Lake, led by Marc Geldon, and Heritage Palms, captained by John Welsh, have yet to report on their league-opening matchup. The season runs through December 7th.


Jan Wheeler's Park Meadow Team

The 8.0 Mixed Doubles League features a strong nine-team complement, with three clubs fielding multiple teams. Cypress Lake’s Sherry Newland and Martha Lyons-Holden each has fielded a team; Park Meadow has fielded teams led by Jan Wheeler and Robert Forget; and Vivante also brings two teams to the table, one captained by Janet Kitzmiller, the other by Donna Bouffard.
 
FMRC (Jan Lutz), Cypress Lake (Newland) and Park Meadow (Wheeler) are off to good starts, all winning their first matches, with Cypress and Park Meadow sweeping their three courts, and FMRC taking two of three. Vivante (Kitzmiller), Cynthia Dietz’s Cape Coral Yacht Club team, and Park Meadow (Forget) have yet to see action or post scores. Matches are through December 7th here as well.
 

Mike Stern

Fort Myers Racquet Club and Cape Coral Yacht Club are the only teams entered in 6.0 Mixed Doubles. Joy Stern leads the FMRC team and Tory Straitiff captains CCYC. The teams will play each other seven times during the season, which begins October 12^th and ends November 23^rd. I think it’s safe to say that these two teams will be more than ready to play someone else when season ends.

50 & Over Combo Leagues

We have two women’s and one men’s 50 & Over Combo Fall Leagues happening at the beginning of our 2013-14 season. The Women’s 7.5 League consists of a Marcia Simons-led team from FMRC, a team fielded by Cindy Gentleman of The Landings, a Paseo team captained by Kristy Brooks, and a Vivante team led by Donna Bouffard. Paseo and The Landings have started the season winning their first matches. Paseo swept FMRC, but The Landings needed a straight-set victory on Court 2 after splitting Courts 1 and 3 in deciding set tiebreaks. 

The Women’s 6.5 League consists of two FMRC teams and one Heritage Palms team. Kathy Aquilina leads the Heritage Palms team, Carol Green captains one of the FMRC teams and no one is listed as captain of the second FMRC. Matched run through December 12th.

Although 8.5 and 6.5 Leagues were offered as well, only the Men’s 7.5 League drew more than one team. Displaying its depth, FMRC has fielded three teams for this league, and Park Meadow has fielded one. Jim Marks heads the Park Meadow team, while Michael Stern, Wolf Tschaikowsky, and John Stamps lead the three FMRC teams.

Stern’s and Tschaikowsky’s teams have won their opening matches of the season, with Stern’s team downing Park Meadow 2-1, and Tzchaikowsky’s team doing the same against Stamps’ team, despite forfeiting Court 3. Matches run through December 6th.

Adult 18 & Over

Four of the five teams that comprise the 3.0 Women (night) League begin play this week. Cape Coral Racquet Club, with Karen Lookabaugh leading the way, will host Sheila Williams’ Paseo, and Jennifer Chambers’ Y @ Punta Gorda team will host Terri Brown’s FMRC team. Cypress Lake, led by Ann Biddison, will take to the courts for the first time on the 14th at FMRC.

3.5 Women (night) have kicked off their season with six teams competing for the right to advance to Daytona. The Y @ Punta Gorda (Karen Bridegam) has taken the early-season lead after earning a 4-1 win in the first match of the season against Vivante (Janet Kaplan). The Landings (Cindy Gentleman) and Paseo (Joan Lake) have also begun the season with wins, the former downing Cypress Lake (Terri Destoppelaire) 3-2, the latter defeating FMRC (Morgan Marinell) by the same score. Matches run through the second week in December.

Cypress Lake 6.5 Combo Team

Fort Myers Racquet Club continues to show its depth, fielding two of the five teams in the 4.0 Women’s League (night). Tricia Blakeslee leads one of the teams and Debra White heads the other. The Y @ Punta Gorda, under the new leadership of Larry Gagnon, has increased its presence, entering a team with Shannon Gorman at the helm. Tracy DiBiase and Rena Gezzar captain Cypress Lake and Paseo respectively. Matches were scheduled to begin last week but no scores have been posted. The league runs through mid-December.

Otis Delgado

The first match has been played in the 3.5 Men’s League and Dan Campbell’s FMRC squad is off to a good start with a shutout victory over Otis Delgado’s Cape Coral Racquet Club team. Dan Wadsworth’s Cape Coral Yacht Club will take to the courts for the first time at FMRC this week. Matches run through mid-December.

Six of the seven teams in the 4.0 Men’s League have tasted their first action of the season, with the three winning teams taking the matches by 3-2 scores. George John Newton took his Three Oaks Park team up to Jose Kuo’s Y @ Punta Gorda Club and took three of five courts. Ken Casola took his Cypress Lake team down to Ken’s Savage’s Three Oaks Park home court and walked away with the win. Too bad the savage family isn’t larger; four Savages (Ken & Frank, Phillip & Stewart) teamed to play two doubles matches and lost just one game each.

Brian Hammermeister’s FMRC squad hosted Mark Robert Lohr’s Heritage Palms team, taking two of the doubles and one of the singles matches to claim victory. John Terrell’s Cape Coral Racquet Club will toss em up for the first time this season against Cypress Lake this week.

Matches have been played since I began this post on Sunday, so I'm a match behind in some of the above divisions. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next update out before too many matches have been played. Until next, game, set, match...T. A.