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| Champion Villanova University (front row, left to right): Alex Lienhard, Carl Fenzl, Priya Narahari, Mike Sindoni and Shelby Vojtech, with event coordinator Bruce Kisthardt. Back row: Zakari Parchment and Suzanne Reuter. |
Rain, rain go away. It didn’t, but that didn’t dampen the spirit that was shown by the 16 college teams who participated in the second annual USA Team Tennis on Campus Middle States Sectional Championship at the College of New Jersey, Oct. 22-23.
Last year’s inaugural season saw eight teams compete early in the year, then 10 teams vied for the first MS title. The 16 teams this year are an indication of how fast this great program is catching on. And tournament coordinator Bruce Kisthardt pointed out that at least eight more colleges have already expressed interest in participating.
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| The College of New Jersey Student Rec Center |
The competition this year was strong, especially among the final four, Penn State Blue, Villanova, Lehigh Brown and Penn State White. USA Team Tennis on Campus uses World TeamTennis format in both its coed team makeup and the cumulative scoring, which makes the tournament fun and exciting for everyone involved.
In the semifinals, Penn State Blue lost to Villanova 26-19. In the other semifinal, Penn State White defeated Lehigh Brown 27-19. This set the stage for an thrilling final, which came down to one game separating the two finalists. Final score: Villanova 22 and Penn State White 21! In the consolation match, Penn State Blue defeated Lehigh Brown 28-12. Who could ask for anything more exciting? These all were top-notch players, who can be proud of their results.
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| USA Team Tennis on Campus finalist PSU White: (left to right): Katie Seiverling, David Kauffman, Brenton Stewart, Cara Reitnauer and Drew Frank. |
A raffle basket was won by Lafayette’s Heather Smith, who received an assortment of Middle States tennis goodies.
What happens next? The 2006 USA Team Tennis National Campus Championship, held at the University of Texas at Austin April 20-22. Last year, seven MS teams attended the national championship in San Diego.
Thank you to Middle States staff Bruce Kisthardt, Ben Zislis, Laurie Bouch, Kitty Perrin and Lori Schwartz, who helped with the tournament.
Special thanks to Scott DiCheck, tennis coach at TCNJ, who was a great host and made special arrangements for the matches to be played indoors due to the heavy rain.
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| Lehigh University (front row, left to right): Laura Sobert and Macus Moliters. Back row: Joe Rosen, Tom Powers, Annie Feldman, Kelly Durbon, Larence Latze, Brian Roth, John McBride, Mike Gordon, Sandra Torrey, Eliza Radford and Mara Meling. |
Also, thanks to Elaine Wingfield of WTT, who made the long trip from Florida (absenting herself from Wilma’s company in the meantime) to assist in scoring and making certain that WTT rules were followed.
Justin DePietropaolo, the “Commish,” provided his support, as he has been doing all year, making this year’s championship the best ever!
For more information about USA Team Tennis on Campus, click here. For full bracket results, click here. To find out how you can be part of USA Team Tennis on Campus in USTA/Middle States, contact Bruce Kisthardt or Justin DePietropaolo.
Champion: Villanova University
Runner-up: Penn State White
Third place: Penn State Blue
Fourth place: Lehigh Brown
Participating teams:
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| Penn State's Cara Reitnauer serves. |
Pool A
Penn State Blue
Lehigh White
Rutgers White
Lafayette
Pool B
Delaware
Villanova
TCNJ Gold
Philadelphia Biblical
Pool C
Lehigh Brown
Penn State Nittany
Rutgers Red
TCNJ Blue
Pool D
UPenn
Penn State White
Navy
Saint Joseph