Tournaments

   - 2003 Calendar / Results
   - On-line Draws

Men's Singles / Women's Doubles City Championship
May 3-4, 2003
Only the Strong Survive
by Patsy Duke

It couldn't happen again - but it did. Intermittent rain once again struck MVTC on a tournament weekend. The squeegee crew had the courts ready by 9, and then the rains resumed. A second clearing and a second squeegee attack enabled play to start by noon thanks to Bob Schlotfeldt, Louis Silencieux (who wasn't even scheduled to play) and Suryan Stalin. Fueled by croissant sandwiches, Caesar salad, cookies, and carrot cake (courtesy of Jan Dyche and Karla Hillman), seventy-three players worked resolutely to get as many matches completed as possible by 6 o'clock, despite two more rain delays.

On Sunday players arrived at 7:30 and moved swiftly through the large number of remaining matches. The grim truth became obvious: winning players would be faced with three increasingly tough matches to achieve their goals. Success this day would require stamina and determination as well as skill.

Displaying all these traits, Tri Phan defeated Wayne Sorin in an exciting Division I final (6-4, 6-4), with Vince Lui wresting the Consolation trophy from Bryan Bohman in a tiebreaker (7-5, 4-6, 1-0). Mike Walker and Chris Dateo fought their way into the Division II final so late in the afternoon that they gladly agreed to play another day, upon which Mike edged Chris (6-4, 7-6). Division II Consolation finalist Gil Ambats served so hard to get there, he injured his shoulder and was forced to concede to Dean Nguyen. Al Ovadia prevailed over Lou Castellanos (6-0, 6-2) in a highly competitive Division III, with Ken Huynh winning the Consolation trophy from Bruce Overby (6-4, 6-1). In Division IV, Sujit Banerjee was victorious over Jimmy Duan (6-2, 7-6) and Don Grey celebrated his first MVTC Men's Singles tournament by outfoxing the wily Alex Franco (6-3, 6-2).
The women of MVTC cleverly avoided the gridlock on the Rengstorff courts by taking several of their matches offsite. Fortunately, the thrilling Division I final took place on home court, where it was won by Leslie Pruett and Sharon Yang over Mary Green and Jere Schaefer (6-4, 5-7, 1-0) to the delighted squeals of Leslie's daughter Elena. The Consolation victors were Joyce Madeira and Lynn Presley, who ungratefully defeated the food providers Jan Dyche and Liz Chambers. The Division II round robin matches were unquestionably won by Louise Apichell and Valeria Anawalt, who did not lose a single set and gave up only eight games in three matches.

last modified Wednesday, 10-Mar-2004 14:51:17 PST