Good luck to all those who will be competing!!!

The team was honored at the Newport Tennis Hall of Fame on center court and presented with a team banner.

They will be competing for the 2010 USTA League Mixed Doubles National Championship event held in Tuscon, Arizona the weekend of November 19.

The 18and 14 teams had a fantastic year! Congratulations to all players that participated! A big thank you to the parents for getting the players to all of the matches!

Our approach for the state tournament was to give as many players as possible the opportunity to experience the tournament.

The 14s played on Saturday March 21. They were the number 1 seed thanks to their undefeated season! Unfortunately we had to default a line because only two girls were available to play. The rules for the state stated that each team had to have a minumum of three boys and three girls.

The match of the day belonged to Andrew Bell. He played a singles match and was down 0-3 and 1-4. He was able to take some simple coaching, change his game plan and turn the match arround. He displayed what we teach at Simsmore Tennis, which is an all-court game. Mentally he was able to stay positive and showed great spirit!

The doubles match that stood out was Brady Cowling and Cole Miranda, who were able to recognize their opponent’s weakness and pick on it! They were able to change the basic doubles strategy of hitting cross court returns to hitting down the line, which their opponents were not covering! Again, our players displayed the ability to change their game plans according to the situation!

Newcomer Nick Hayes, age 9, showed how to move forward in doubles and take over the net, even though his opponents out-weighed him by 50lbs and were 1-2 feet taller! There are no size categories in tennis, only heart! We look forward to watching Nick in the upcoming years!

Pam Fetzer, Jamie MacNeil, Ellen MacNeil, Ashton Kille – rounded out the team and all deserve a lot of credit for a very succesful year!

The team did not make it to the finals, but showed good sportmanship and had a great time together!

The 18′s had a stellar year as well with a 7-1 record! The Tuesday/Thursday high school practices were a great time this year with excellent energy!

“Variety is the key to success” – Claudia Berns

This comment turned out to tell the whole story of the 18′s day at states. The players that had variety, or could deal with it, won. They players that did not, lost.

As an example, in Jason Sittambalam’s first singles match, when he was able to hit underspin slow shots and make his opponent play from the mid court or have to pass him, he won the points. When this tactic was not used the result was not in our favor. As in life, we need to be able to pick our battles and how we choose to fight them is very important. It was a great match, but Jason lost a close one 4-6.

The comment also held true in an excellent singles match by Brianna Raymes. Brianna was steady and moved the girl around the court and brought her in, which she did not like. At 5-1 there was a classic mental situation that occured. Brianna, up two match points, became quite nervous. At 5-3, the opponent became quite nervous realizing that she was coming back from the edge! Brianna went on to win 6-3. The match showed the mental situations and momentum shifts that are common for all players. When you are winning, you need to be able to keep it up and finish off your opponent. When you are down, you are not out until it is really over!

Jason and Colin Kirkland had a great doubles match, with Colin really showing his improvement at the net this year! They had the only doubles win , 6-2.

Morgan Kille also showed the ability to change her game some to take advantage of her opponent’s weakness in moving and the mid-court. She was down 0-4 and brought it back to a tiebreak! She lost 4-5 in the breaker, but showed tremendous heart and competitive spirit!

Mary Pearce, cameron Raymes, Meghan Rosenberger, Lauren Nuewrither and Emma Spirko rounded out our 18 team.

Thanks to all who participated!!!

-Reported by Coach Tyler Gibson

Simsmore D2 had a new paring with Sophia joining Heidi. They used their size advantage to force the action at the net, and Canton kept getting stuck at the baseline. Before even 30 minutes had passed, they were up 4-0. Canton made one surge at the end of the first set by breaking Heidi’s serve once, but Simsmore broke right back and kept up the pressure with very consistent strokes by Heidi and some powerful forehands by Sophia to close the set 6-2. After that, the confidence and momentum was all on Simsmore’s side, and they made quick work of the 2nd set. Sophia’s family arrived just in time to see them close it out 6-0 and finish their match first.

D1 Doubles had the toughest match up of the day. It was apparent that Jude and Nicky were playing two very experienced ladies from Canton. Jude and Nicky worked the net, worked the lobs, worked the angles, but it just wasn’t enough. Nicky’s family arrived to cheer her on, just as they lost the first set 1-6. The second set played out pretty much the same. Try as they did to mix up the action, using their quickness and teamwork, they still couldn’t seem to get a winning momentum going in the 2nd set, and lost it as well at 1-6.

Judy, who was playing against a lefty for her first time, took the singles slot for Simsmore. Both players won their first serves, but Judy broke her opponent’s serve in the 3rd game to take a 2-1 lead, and that momentum carried her for the next few games. Canton’s S1 broke back and won two games in a row at the end of the first set, but Judy served it out at 6-3. The second set didn’t start too well for Judy. The Canton lefty was using her strong forehand to keep Judy back and quickly went up 3-0. But Judy dug deep, winning her serve at 1-3, then started to use more angles and deeper shots to take back control. Suddenly it was all Judy, as she ran off 6 straight games to win the second set 6-3 and seal the match for Simsmore.

Congratulations on another strong team win for the Simsmore 2.5 ladies squad.

So now we are champs, heading to districts! A well earned visit. Thanks Jeff for the good lineups.

Between now and then we have two more matches, both against Pinewoods. Last weekend in March and the first weekend in April. They’ve been competitive with the other three teams this season. We’re stronger than them, but we still have to prove it on the court.

-Reported by Tim Ruark

I’m sorry I had to leave before Lisa was off the court, but it sounds as though she gave it all she had & in her words “crawled off the court” after a third set tie-breaker! Although I’m sure she’d agree the win is usually worth the pain!
We were all there to congratulate Karen & Jen on their success, quite handily as well! It appears they work great together & are quite a duo!
Laura @ S1 had an amazing match against another 3.5 player, winning the second set without giving her opponent a game! It came down to a third set tie-breaker which her opponent squeaked out the final points! Challenging to play in between a “two” Bar Mitzvah day!
Liz & I @ D1 had a tough match with some good points which were not reflective of our scores! We’d love a rematch, but they’ll be playing 3.5!
DiAnne & Michele @ D2 had a great match with very close scores @ 4-6 4-6! They’re nicely matched as teammates & played as Claudia has taught “the front person driving the bus”! A few issues occured on their court that heated up the afternoon & appear were “lessons learned” for all of us in terms of court rules! I’ll do some research, since most are not addressed in the short version of our rules and get firm answers on the following…

Can a player leave the court with his/her racquet during a match?
Can two teammates leave the court together during a match for a bathroom break?
Can a player drink between each game or only when changing sides and not between the 1st & 2nd game?
Is the match forfieted by a team if a teammate from another court walks on the court still in play?

Great playing everyone!
Next match is 3/20 @ 2:00 in Rocky Hill.

-Reported by Captain Patti Maciag

We managed to win 2 of 3 positions maintaining our undefeated record. Carolyn and Aram lost 7-6:7-6 against Craig Cutler who was just too crafty. Carolyn C and Greg won in doubles 2 and Kim and Jason won in line 3. Welcome to team Jason Lenore and congratulations on your win.

-Reported by Captain Carolyn Lee