PETE ZIEBRON
USTA National Champions: (left to right) Beth Kaper, Elizabeth Owen (Co-captain), Miriam Hayenga, Kristi Noble, Catherine Ellington, Laurie Helgeson, Ellen Baumann (Captain), Pam Ponwith, Lachelle Skousen, Tamera Auther (photo credit: USTA)
On the last weekend of October, a team of ten ladies from Phoenix captured the USTA National Championship in the Adult 40 & Over, 4.5+ division. The majority of the team plays throughout the year at The Arizona Country Club in Phoenix.
The Champions represented the Southwest Section, one of 17 sections that entered the tournament. The competition was contested at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and the La Quinta Resort & Club.
This May in El Paso, the ladies from Phoenix won the right to represent the Southwest Section. In fact, the team went undefeated at the sectional, going 15-0 in the process, defeating players from El Paso, Albuquerque, Phoenix and Tucson.
Playing at Indian Wells was a thrill for Arizona Country Club pro Kristi Noble "The facility is fantastic. I wish that the championships could be held at this venue ever year. Nadal played on these courts and got through some tough situations here, that was certainly motivation for me and us playing on the same courts."
Team Captain Ellen Baumann stated "We defeated the entire state of California in winning the championship. That is certainly not easy to do." The Southwest champions beat the Southern California section in the round-robin flight prior to advancing to the semifinals, then defeated the Northern California section in the semifinals 3-2 in a tightly contested semi.
In the Final, the team from the Southwest defeated New England 4-1 to win the Championship.
Kristi Noble elaborated on the fact that nearly every match was very close "One of the biggest highlights for our team was the fact that we played 10 supertiebreaks in the tournament and we won all of them!" Ellen Baumann added "Our team practices supertiebreaks all year long. This preparation certainly helped us at Indian Wells."
Hearty Congratulations to the USTA National Champions from the Southwest Section!
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