Quickstart Tennis Demonstration - A Success! by Sri Sriniwass  The Point, Mooresville, October 18 - The Quickstart Tennis demonstration at The Point Golf Club and Tennis Facility was a great success with more than 24 children participating. Many families braved the chilly weather to learn the new way to teach younger children to play tennis using age appropriate equipment including racquets, balls, and courts. Many thanks to Adriana Crisp, Junior Tennis Coordinator, for organizing this event. Please visit the USTA Quickstart Tennis website for more information regarding this exciting program. 2007 Men's Southern Regional Qualifier Champions Get Their Moment In The Limelight by Sam Falewee  In the 3.5 division, Ken Taffaro did exceptionally well in the last year's Men's Southern Regional Qualifier, eventually snatching up 2nd in the nation. Dave Vega was his winning partner in the Southern Regional Qualifier, and Steve Selfridge stepped in to play with Taffaro in California. In this year's tournament, Ken Taffaro will be playing with Frank Weissgerber as his partner. Taffaro has been playing tennis for 9 years, and admits to having no superstitions, always just "happy to be playing". The 2007's competition was a good strong match, he says, and he expects a similar challenge this coming weekend. Playing tennis on and off for 20 years, Steve Selfridge, Taffaro's partner in California in the 2007 Pacific, prefers hard courts "they're more shootable than clay." Unfortunately, Selfridge will not be playing in this weekend's Southern Qualifier tournament. Earlier this year, he explains proudly, his mens and doubles team went to states and sectionals, and he had no remaining days to take off work. Steve sincerely hopes to be playing next year. Tough luck Steve! Randy Talley & his son Ami will be playing in the 4.5 division this weekend. The team made it to the finals last year and went to the Pacific Life Open in California, and while they expect a challenging match, they are hopeful to qualify once more. Randy and his 22 year son have been playing together for 13 years now. Ryan Degnan, a seasoned tennis player of 25 years, along with his partner Mrinal Das, succeeded in winning last year's 4.5 doubles match in the Tri-Level Championship. The team moved on to compete in California in the Pacific Life Open, and Degnan sees no reason why he and Das will not do so again this year. The tournament will be played double round-robin style to give players more court time, which Degnan is happy with as well. Free Quickstart Tennis Demonstartion Saturday, October 18. Come to The Point Tennis Facility for an exciting demonstratiion of Quickstart Tennis. Quickstart Tennis is an exciting new play format for learning tennis, designed to bring kids into the game by utilizing specialized equipment, shorter court dimensions and modified scoring, all tailored to age and size. Please click here for the flyer. 2008 USTA Junior Team Tennis League is starting September 18. Please contact Adriana Crisp (adrianacrisp@roadrunner.com | 704-660-9451) to register. Pacific Life Tri-level Championship. The Lake Norman Tennis Association (LNTA) is proud to host The Pacific Life Tri-Level Championship ? Men's Southern Regional Qualifier to be held October 24, 25 and 26 in Charlotte, NC. This is an NTRP tournament with teams competing from 20-30 Southern cities at the 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 levels. The winners of the 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 divisions will represent the USTA Southern Section at ?The Pacific Life Tri-Level Championship? finals to be held in Indian Wells, CA in tandem with the Pacific Life Open in March 2009. Please click here for more information. Lake Norman USTA League Winners Compete At State Championships by Ambre Schweitzer Lake Norman, NC- Monday July 7, 2008-On the weekend of June 5th through 8th, the North Carolina USTA League Senior State Championships were held in Ashville, NC . 75 USTA Senior League teams from all over North Carolina competed for the state titles. All the teams who advanced to the state championships won their league divisions in the 2008 USTA senior spring season. Eight USTA senior teams from the Lake Norman league competed. All the teams performed well and represented the Lake Norman area proudly. Out of the eight teams that Lake Norman sent to the state championships, three teams came home with the state titles. ... (more)     Mary McQueen's 4.0 Senior Women Peggy Puckett's 3.0 Senior Women                                                                                                                                           The The teams who competed at states were:    Bob Dahlheim?s 3.0 Sr Men/ CRCN John Patterson?s 3.0 Sr Men ( Wildcard)/ Edgemore Park  Lou Duncan?s 3.5 Sr Men/ CRCN Dave Kucharski?s 4.0 Sr Men/ Skybrook Carl Phelps? 4.5 Sr Men/ Northstone Peggy Puckett?s 3.0 Sr Women/ CRCN Leigh Zmirak?s 3.5 Sr Women/ CRCN Mary McQueen?s 4.0 Sr Women/ CRCN     The three teams that went on to win the state titles, and who earned a spot to compete at the USTA Southern Sectionl Championships in Mobile, Alabama on July 19-27 are: Bob Dahlheim?s 3.0 Senior Men  out of CRCN who won in a round robin, Mary McQueen?s 4.0 Senior Women out of CRCN who won their finals match 2-1 and David Kucharski?s 4.0 Senior Men out of Skybrook who won their finals match 3-0.     On the weekend of June 26th-29th the North Carolina USTA Adult League State Championships were held in Pinehurst, NC . The 2008 USTA adult spring season winners from all over North Carolina competed against each other, in their given divisions, for the state titles. 11 USTA adult teams from the Lake Norman League competed at the state championships and represented their league proudly. Out of the 11 teams that Lake Norman sent to represent them, five teams advanced into the finals, with three teams taking the state championship titles.              The teams who competed at states were:   Sean Gallagher?s 3.0 Men/ The Point Jim Epler?s 3.5 Men/ Les Myers Dave Kopp?s 4.0 Men/ Jetton Mike Ferrero?s 4.5 Men/ Jetton Mike Ferrero?s 5.0 Men/ River Run Jennifer Hornbeck?s 2.5 Women /Bailey Road Park Jill Dolan?s 3.0 Women/ The Point Mary McQueen?s 3.5 Women/ Hornets Nest Tracy Conneen?s 4.0 Women/ Hornets Nest Jayne Kline?s 4.5 Women/ Jetton Kim Kurani?s 5.0 Women/ Ind     The three teams that went on to win the state titles, and who earned a spot to compete at the Southern Sectionl Championships in Mobile, Alabama on July 19-27 are: Jill Dolan?s 3.0 Women out of The Point, Jim Epler?s 3.5 Men out of Les Myers and Tracy Conneen?s 4.0 Women out of Hornet?s Nest.   The other teams that came close to winning the state titles, but lost in their finals matches, were Mike Ferrero?s 4.5 Men out of Jetton Park who lost in the finals 3-2, Mary McQueen?s 3.5 Women out of Hornet?s Nest who lost 3-2 in the finals match as well. Players to Compete At the Southern Cities Championships by Ambre Schweitzer On June 21st and 22nd, The Lake Norman Tennis Association held the Southern Cities Qualifier Tournament inCharlotte, North Carolina at Hornets Nest Park. Out of the 60 ladies who participated, 14 women earned spots on to the two teams that will represent the Lake Norman area at the Southern Cities Championships in Atlanta, Georgia on August 21st-23rd. ... (more) The tournament was a non elimination tournament, which ensured that all the women who participated got plenty of matches. Each match was played as an eight set pro set. The outcome of these matches determined who would be selected to join the two Lake Norman teams. The tournament was held over a two day span on Saturday and Sunday. Rain washed out a lot of play on Saturday, so teams had to play a lot of tennis on Sunday, which didn?t seem to bother the women. They all seemed eager to play tennis. For every entry fee that the Lake Norman Tennis Association collected for the event, 10 dollars went directly to the Charlotte affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. According to Iris Ham, the Lake Norman USTA League Coordinator and Tournament Directer,  ?The tournament was very successful and the ladies love this format in which no one goes home early. Each of the tournament entrants received a great bad filled with goodies from our many sponsors."  They were also happy with the turnout, which grew from the previous year when they had 50 women participate. Karla Williams, a participant in the Southern Cities Qualifier and who was named to the Lake Norman City team, agreed that the tournament was a success. She had a lot of fun and was very appreciative of all the hard work that everyone put in to making this tournament a success. Overall, she felt it was a great weekend of tennis. The two teams being sent to participate at the Southern Cities Championships are the Lake Norman City team, which consists of 4 doubles pairs in the 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 divisions, and the Tri-level team which consists of 3 doubles pairs in the 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 divisions. The following ladies will represent Lake Norman next month at the championships: Lake Norman City Team 3.0 Patty Arrowood & Karla Williams -Winners 3.5 Arlene Cates-Brown & Debbie Scott 4.0 Jane Ravey & Andreina Morris 4.5 Nancy Chirino & Peggy Lea   Lake Norman Tri-Level Team 2.5 Renee Franklin & Mary Wilson -Winners 3.0 Kim Cedrone & Heidi Lloyd -Finalists 3.5 Amy Brandon & Amy Michalski ?Finalists   The 2008 Southern Cities Championships Tournament will be held at The Racquet Club of the South and The North Fulton Tennis Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The tournament will run from Thursday August 21st until Saturday August 23rd. The two teams will receive their match schedules three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. All represented cities will be divided into divisions where they will play eight game pro sets with regular scoring against all other teams in that division. Every game won will be added to the total score of the teams. The division winners will then play on Saturday to determine the Southern Cities Champions. The winning teams will be presented with awards and a check to present to their hometown charity.   One player that will be making the trip to Atlanta next month is Patty Arrowood, a 3.0 player on the Lake Norman City Team this year. She had the privilege of attending the Southern Cities Championships last year and will be representing the Lake Norman area again next month. She said the level of play at the championships is wonderful and every one at the event is so helpful. She is looking forward to playing in Atlanta again this year.               Congratulations to all the winners of the 2008 Southern Cities Qualifier Tournament and good luck to the ladies in Atlanta, Ga. Lake Norman Tennis Association also thanks the Tournament sponsors and all the participants for making this tournament possible. Compass Draw Finals Are In Full Swing by Ambre Schweitzer Singles players meet each other on the courts for the final matches of the season

Thursday June 19, 2008 Women's 2.5 Compass Draw Finals          LAKE NORMAN, NC- The consolation final of the Women's 2.5 division of the Compass Draw was played on June 8, 2008. The match was held at The Point in Mooresville, North Carolina. Chu Wong, the number 13 seed ,and Amy Gay, the number 28 seed, played against each other in the match. Chu won the match over Amy in three sets. The match finished with a score of 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.          Chu Wong had never participated in the Compass Draw before, this was her first time. She didn't do anything special to prepare for the match except make sure she ate before hand, and kept hydrated by drinking plenty of water. After winning the first set, Chu dropped the second set to her opponent. She felt the heat was starting to get to her at that point, the temperature was in the high 90's. She was having a hard time concentrating because of the heat but she pushed through it and won the third set, which made her very proud. When asked how she felt she played during the match she said it was a very competitive match and that Amy was tough and had great skills. "It was a close match and I think we both played well," she replied.          This was the first time Amy participated in the Compass Draw as well, and she enjoyed it. When asked how she felt she played during the match she replied, " I felt I played the best I could during the match." Even though she didn't win, Amy said that Chu and herself were very evenly matched. They had many amazing rallies and many deuce points. Chu also agreed, she said that it was a very competitive match but it was also a fun game with good shots and rallies.   Women's 3.0 Compass Draw Finals LAKE NORMAN, NC- On Monday June 16th the Women's 3.0 Compass Draw Finals were played in Mooresville, NC at The Point. Number one seed, Adriana Crisp, took on the number five seed, Jill Stubbs-Herring. Adriana won the match over Jill with a score of 6-2, 6-2. Jill Stubbs-Herring has only played in the Compass Draw one other time besides this season. She also played in the summer of 2007 where she reached the semifinals. She admits that she didn't play her best tennis. However, she also believes that she has done well considering she has just gotten back into the game after not playing much tennis for the past 20 years. Jill said she has enjoyed playing in the Compass Draw which has allowed her to get back into her game and to meet new people. Adriana Crisp has never played in the Compass Draw before, but she enjoyed playing in it for the first time. She believes that participating in the Compass Draw has helped her game overall. Adriana doesn't do anything in particular to help prepare for her matches, however, she plays a lot of doubles. She believes that those matches may have helped her in preparing for her singles matches. When Adriana was asked how the match went overall she replied, " My Opponent, Jill Herring, was a very nice and great player. She is extremely consistent in her game and we had a great match." Women's 3.5 Compass Draw Finals               LAKE NORMAN, NC- The Women's 3.5 Main Draw Finals of the Compass Draw took place near one of the players homes. Cindi VanWingerden, the number one seed, and Elke Neumann, the number 3 seed, competed against each other in the finals and took it to three sets. Cindi won the match with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 after coming back from a 5-2 defecit in the third set.             Cindi and Elke have been friends for several years and Cinidi admits that it's hard playing a good friend. One of her goals during the match was to not think about playing her friend. She admitted, " I kept telling myself to pretend like she was someone else." Overall, Cindi felt she played well during her finals match. Even though she gets distracted when playing her friend, who she believes is very tough mentally and has " an awesome cross-court forehand" she kept telling herself "one more point, one more game" and it it helped her get through the last difficult set.             This is not the first time Cindi has participated in the Compass Draw. She has taken part in it since the Summer of 2005. At that time it was only a 3.5/4.0 division and she decided, as a 3.0 player, she would play up. She admits she got demolished by an opponent 6-0, 6-0, but since then has improved. Cindi has now won the last two 3.5 Women's Compass Draws.             Cindi has competed in the Compass Draw several times but her opponent Elke is a new participant this season. She has never played in the Compass Draw before. Even though she didn't leave the court with a win, she had a good time playing. She was feeling perfect and the game was very relaxed. When asked how she felt about the match Elke responded, "I was hoping to win of course...maybe next time. Congratulations Cindi."       Women's 4.0 Compass Draw Finals             Lake Norman, NC- On Wednesday June 4th Janet Szilagyi, the number three seed, and Warnie Riley, the number eleven seed, competed in the Compass Draw Final in the Women's 4.0 Division. The match was played at River Run Country Club in Davidson, NC. Warnie won the match in two sets with a score of 6-1, 6-1. This is the first time Warnie has ever played in the Compass Draw. She doesn't do anything specific to prepare for her matches but she tries to get a good night sleep. Warnies goals for the match were to play consistently, be patient and not over hit the ball. Janet Szilagyi and Warnie Riley are friends but had never played singles against eachother before. Warnie had heard about Szilagyis style of play, very consistent and gets everything back, and knew she had to go into the match and not let her play that kind of game. She needed to play her own type of game and try her best.             When Warnie was asked how she felt she played during the match she said, "I thought I played pretty well.  I felt good about the match."   Women's 4.0 Compass Draw Consolation Finals            Lake Norman, NC- On Friday May 30th Barb Brasier, the number six seed, and Emily Bauguss, the number nine seed, competed in the Compass Draw Consolation Finals in the Women's 4.0 Division. The match was played on clay courts at Charlotte Racquet Club North which is located in Charlotte, NC. Barb won the match in two sets with a score of 6-2, 6-3. Emily Bauguss is no newcomer to the Compass Draw. This was her third time participating in this event. "It is a great way to meet people who play at your level and have a competitive match," Emily stated. When it came to her consolation finals match, Emily didn't prepare before hand. She goes out on the court and plays to win but also plays for fun. When asked how she felt about her play during the match, Emily felt she played better in previous matches but that she was outplayed. Overall Emily said that she had a great time and enjoyed playing with Barb. This season was the first time Barb had ever played in the Compass Draw. She didn't have any particular strategy going into her matches, except to have fun. She prepared for her Compass Draw matches the same way she prepares for any other tennis she plays. She participates in tennis clinics, working out and playing matches. When asked which has been her toughest match of the season she replied, "All the matches have been great - challenging in different ways."

Men's 3.0 Compass Draw Finals   Charlotte, NC- On Friday May 30th Nick Guglielmi, the number two seed, and Joel Crisp, the number six seed, in the Men's 3.0 division of the Compass Draw, played their main draw finals match. The match was played in Mooresville, NC at The Point Lake and Golf Club. Nick won the match in three sets with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-0. . Though both players didn't have any particular strategy going into their match, due in part to the fact they had never played against each other before, they both got out on the tennis courts and practiced before their matches. "I try to play a couple of times a week before all my matches just to feel comfortable hitting shots and moving around the court," Nick replied. Joel also finds that getting out on the court and hitting, whether it be playing some singles and doubles matches, or practicing with his USTA team, helps him prepare for his matches. Both men had participated in the Compass Draw before, but neither had ever gotten into the main draw finals. The first time Nick Guglielmi played, he ended up making it into the Men's 3.0 Consolation Finals and winning. Joel Crisp made it into the semi-finals of the main draw last season but ultimately lost to the number one seeded player, who ended up winning the draw.

Men's 3.0 Compass Draw Consolation Finals   Charlotte , NC -Shawn Devinney and Neil Baffoni, the number 9 and 11 seeds in the Men's 3.0 division of the Compass Draw, were the first to complete their finals match, in the consolation round. They played their match last week in North Myrtle Beach , where they both happened to be visiting at the same time. They took some time out of there trips to meet up and play. They took the match to three sets, with Shawn Devinney winning the match with a score of 6-4, 5-7, 6-1.             This was Shawn's first time participating in the compass draw. He has only been playing tennis for about eight to ten months. When asked to describe the play during their match, Shawn responded by saying he thought that both men played okay but that he thought both of them were not playing their normal tennis. Shawn believes it could have been that he was playing conservatively because of the situation. Overall Shawn said he had a fun competitive match and his opponent, Neil Baffoni, was very gracious.