It was a combination of TEAMwork and individual achievement that earned Southern California some hardware at the National Championships and various high profile events across the country this summer.
It began with the Intersectional 14’s Team competition in Alabama, where SoCal finished second against a tough Southern Team that fought to avoid a home court upset against the powerful SoCal hard court squad. At the same time the Intersectional 16’s Team was competing in Shreveport, finishing fifth. Next up was the USTA National Clay Court Championships in each age division, where Southern California tallied Silver and Bronze Balls.
With that strong foundation, the summer schedule provided some amazing tennis and first place finishes. TEAM competitions in late July were dominated by Team SoCal, especially the USTA West Zonals, where our locals garnered three championships – 12s, 14s and 16s. Along with being really competitive on court in Utah, the USTA 16s Zonal Team came away with the USTA B/G16 Zone Team Championship Sportsmanship Award for the Northwest region.
During the Zonals, Boys 18s and Girls 18s teams were competing in Illinois and Claremont, respectively. The Boys Team exceled and earned the 18s National Title, while the girls took a tough loss to Southern, but rebounded to finish fifth.
The last piece of summer before school starts brought the National Age Division Championships into play throughout the United States, with Southern California right in the mix. Some of our most talented juniors competed for Southern California, including Sportsmanship honors for Eric Hahn and Hughes Peus. It is so inspiring to know that the Southern California Section won three huge Sportsmanship awards this summer. Keep up the good work, on the court and off!
National Intersectional Team Events
Boys 18s National Champions: Siem Woldeab, Ryan Seggerman, Timothy Sah, Eric Hahn, Matthew Tsolakyan, Jack Pulliam, Matthew Sah, Coaches Mike Saunders and Trevor Kronemann
Girls 18s Intersectional 5th Place: Charlotte Chavatipon, Anessa Lee, Jenna Defalco, Eryn Cayetano, Katheryn Nguyen, Kimmie Hance, Rena Lin and Coach Debbie Schaffer
16s Intersectional 5th Place: Matthew Sah, Bryan Kulikov, Alex Petrov, Zach Svajda, Rebecca Lynn, Anne Lutkemeyer, Casie Wooten, Justine Dondonay, and Coach David Nowick
14s Intersectional 2nd Place: Hudson Rivera, Sean Daryabeigi, Marcus Sebastian, Lawee Sherif, Phoebe Peus, Cindy Ung, Midori Castillo, Katherine Hui, Coach Gary Victor and Trevor Kronemann
USTA West Zonals
USTA West Zonal 12s Winner: Hughes Peus, Gray Kelley, Cassius Chinlund, Nischal Spurling, Nelson Alapi, Dylan Kha, Jessica MacCallum, Rebecca Kong, Nadia Kojonroj, Maren Urata, Alyssa Ahn, Sarai Dorismund and Coach Megan Heneghan
USTA West Zonal 14s Winner: (So Cal A), Makenna Barrett, Isabella Chiv, Adam Chodur, Sebastian Gorzny, Thomas Lynch, Alex Michelsen, Saachi Pavani, Kenan Rizvanbegovic, Amani Shah, Ania Snissarenko, Ethan Vo, Kaia Wolfe, and Coach Josh Jorgensen.
USTA West Zonal 16s Winner: Gianluca Brunkow, Diego Castillo, Ty Cohen, Jonah Dickson, Natalie Duffy, Irene Huang, Madison Kane, Jordyn Mcbride, Cory Pham, Olivia Tracey, Audrey Vo, Johnny Zisette, and Coach Cari Buck
USTA National Clay Court Championships (Gold, Silver or Bronze Ball Winners, Sportsmanship Winners)
Girls 14s Bronze Ball Tsehay Driscoll, Silver Ball Doubles Tsehay Driscoll/Katherine Hui
Boys 12s Lucas Coriaty Silver Ball
Boys 18s Siem Woldeab Bronze Ball
Boys 16s Aidan Mayo Bronze Ball
USTA National Championships Individuals (Gold, Silver, or Bronze Ball Winners, Sportsmanship Winners)
Boys 18s Brandon Nakashima Silver Ball; Stefan Dostanic Bronze Ball
Boys 18s Govind Nanda Silver Ball
Boys 18s Dr. Stowe Sportsmanship Award: Eric Hahn
Boys 16s Doubles Max Mckennon Silver Ball
Boys 12s Dylan Charlap Silver Ball
Boys 12s Doubles Dylan Charlap/Andrew Salu Bronze Ball
Boys 12’s Sportsmanship Award Winner: Hughes Peus
Girls 14s Iris Berman/Kaia Wolfe Bronze Ball