USTA League
More Pictures...
Team Stories
Issue 3: Fall, 2001
The Foster City Tennis Club sponsors many teams and we have written many stories to share our team experiences with the club. For prior issues, please check out our archive.
- Our Trip to National Championships!
- Smashing Start!
- A Senior Moment
- 3.5 Senior Women's
- 4.5 Senior Women's
- Mixed 8.0
- Mixed 9.0
Our Trip to National Championships!!
by Liz Titus, Captain Senior 4.0 Team
Congratulations to the Senior 4.0 Team, 2001 Finalists at Nationals!!
Back: Kumiko Nishikawa, Liz Titus (Captain), Katarina Kivel, Lisa Strait, Maya Oda, Galynn Brady, Suzanne Chow, Bev O'Rourke, and Scarlett Wood
Front: Nancy Farrell, Jane Bagley, Kathleen Cammarata, and Karen Cano.
Led by their fearless Captain...
Captain Liz Titus, Senior 4.0 Team
If you want the most exciting time of your tennis life (see pictures) - go to the National Championships!!!
Teams from all over the country and Hawaii gathered at the Rivera in Palm Springs to decide who was the best men's and women's 4.0 Senior Tennis Team. It was great to be at a venue where all players were the same rating.
Our first competition was New York. It is the custom to exchange a gift, which represents your area, with each opponent. We presented our opponents with a small gold cable car (with a magnet on it), mounted on small poster board the same color as our skirts with "Greetings from San Francisco and the Booth Bay 4.0 team". New York presented each of our players with either a NYPD or NYFD Navy baseball hat - the favorite gift of the tournament!
We were guaranteed three matches and we won those three matches - not without some struggle. We played the dreaded 10 point tie break for a third set - a new and different experience.
We promised each player who came that she would play and we kept that promise. After winning our three matches we moved to semi's. Since the Caribbean area did not come, we were able to play semi's on Saturdays, rather than semi's and finals on Sunday.
We beat the ladies from Chattanooga, nice as they were, to move into the finals. By that time we were pretty numb and had all Saturday night to think about the finals on Sunday.
Saturday night was Banquet Night for all the participants and costumes were optional. Some of our group outdid themselves and looked great. There was lots of dancing and it was a great way to release tension. In spite of the fun, it was early to bed as our big moment was yet to come. The finals were scheduled for 8 the next morning and it was time to change the clocks. We were lucky we gained an extra hour - we needed it.
We were at the courts at 7 and ready to start at 7:30 a.m. We played three great matches but had finally met our match - we suffered our one and only loss at Championships but can proudly say we were Finalists at the USTA National Championships - how many other tennis players do you know who can say that! If you wonder who that group of women are floating by on Cloud 9 - well, it is the Booth Bay Senior Women's 4.0 Team!!
Congratulations to Jane Bagley, Galynn Brady, Kathleen Cammarata, Karen Cano, Suzanne Chow, Nancy Farrell, Katarina Kivel, Kumiko Nishikawa, Bev O"Rourke, Maya Oda, Lisa Strait, Liz Titus, and Scarlett Wood.
P. S.: Thanks to all our husbands who stayed home so we could concentrate on our tennis!
by Cheryl Chang and Jeff Burgos, Co-Captains of Mixed 7.0A Team
We're off to a solid 4-0 start, but it hasn't been easy. This has been a great team effort with many clutch performers. Our biggest key so far has been being able to win in the ever crucial 3rd set. As a team we are currently 6-0 in matches that have gone to the deciding 3rd set. This was apparent in our match vs. Half Moon Bay where all 3 matches were 3-setters in which we came out victorious. Highlighted with James Layton/Bae Cheng pulling out the ultimate test of nerves the 3rd set tiebreaker!
Helping anchor the team so far have been: Janney Jia winning at #1 doubles with 3 different partners; Joe Borzello and Sergei Nasarow with victories over two teams that went to Districts last year. Lets hope our winning ways continue!
by Ed Weiss, Captain Men's 3.0 Senior Team
The Men's 3.0 Senior team is having several moments that are causing some cardiac problems. We have not played Seniors in the Mid-Peninsula league before, so we did not know what to expect.
Our first match was against Alpine, we walked away with a 2 to 1 victory. The number 2 team of Ray Wong and Kay Lee finished 6-1, 6-3 match in about 45 (including warm-up). However, they did save some of the refreshments for the rest of us. The number 1 team of Wil Dang and Jin Jue took about 10 minutes longer to conclude their match at 6-2, 6-3. Our number 3 team spent a little more than an hour and a half in a close, but losing effort.
A week later, six different players stepped onto the courts to face the challenge from the team from Highlands. Again, the score was 2 to 1 for the Foster City Seniors. The perennial pair of Allan Singer and Bob Cala (playing in the number 2 position) was apparently in a hurry to go somewhere or get something; they finished the match quickly at 6-2, 6-1. Ken Miskow and Norm Lin (playing number 3) were worried about them (Allan & Bob) eating and drinking all of the goodies, so they polished of their opponents at 6-3, 6-3 and got some of the food. Our number 1 - Lou Roth and Ken Mentzer - team played a long three setter, but didn't succeed - they muttered something about revenge.
Two weeks later (we had a bye), we hosted Peninsula Golf & Country Club. Still muttering things like; "get even", "revenge", "take no prisoners", etc., the team of Lou Roth and Ken Mentzer (playing number 2 this time) walked on the court, played some tennis and 40 minutes later they walked off with a 6-1, 6-1 victory in their pocket. Jin and Wil, playing number 1 again, didn't want to spend too much time under the lights so they wrapped up their match in a hurry at 6-2, 6-0. The number 3 team of David Li and Paul Ko must like playing under the and/or scaring those of us who were standing around watching. They won their first set 7-5. The second set went to a tiebreaker, which, at one point was knotted 4-4. They decided they did not want to play a third set, so they won the next three points and called it an evening. The result: Foster City - 3, PGCC - 0.
For our fourth match we traveled to San Mateo to meet the Elks. Our number 1 team of Ken Miskow and Norm Lin started first and finished last, but with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Those of us who were watching thought they wanted to play a third set, Ken wanted a beer, so they broke the opponents serve in the last game and sat down. Lou Roth and Ken Mentzer (playing number 2) finished off their opponent in a quick two-setter at 6-4, 6-1. Ray Wong and I didn't fair as well - we lost a long 2 set match at 6-4, 6-2.
The team is currently undefeated after four matches and we have only lost three individual matches.
by Judy Olson, Captain Women's 3.5 Senior Team
The FCTC Senior Women 3.5 team is picking up where it left off last season- on a winning note! Facing a strong contender,Terman Park, FCTC pulled off a tremendous win 2-1. With such a great start to the season, the Senior W 3.5 team looks forward to an even better record than last year, where it finished 6-6. The team members are: Rosemary Bardi, Joan Bugler, Peggy Cartwright, Nancy Day, Lois Glover,Beverley Hayes, Joan Holland, Marie Horn, Jackie James, Terry Lewandowski, Lynda Locke, Mabel MacKenzie (injured reserve), Jessie McElroy, Lizah McLaughlin, Carol Reeves, Jane Reynolds, and Diane Weiss.
by Liz Titus, Captain Women's 4.5 Senior Team
Since we won at the Sectionals in Fresno at the 4.0 level, rather than split up into several teams, we decided to move up to the 4.5 level - which is recommended by the USTA. It is quite a challenge but we have played 4 games and have won 2 and have lost 2. The season is young and we hope to do even better after our detour to Palm Springs to play in the 4.0 National Championships.
by Richard Olson, Captain 8.0 Mixed Doubles Team
Our MXD 8.0 finished the first third of the season very successfully by logging in a nice 4-1 record in a wide-open 16 team division, but it hasn't been easy. With a third of the season gone we also found a third of our original roster missing with the departure of many key members of the team.
As we did last year we found ourselves once again regrouping, recruiting, and rebooting. And, again, it looks like we've rebounded successfully and this year are headed to post-season playoffs.
Our only defeat came after a hard-fought 2-1 loss to currently undefeated Cubberly of Palo Alto. On the flip side our victories have all been decisive with a 2-1 win over Carlmont-B and 3-0 sweeps of Foothill TC, Half Moon Bay, and Carlmont-A teams.
In view of the depletion of our team's ranks what accounted for the sudden turn around in our fortunes? Well, with only one returning team from last year, the ever-dependable Nelsons (Clarke & Larissa), 3-1 in league, we lucked out and picked up the Nakatas (Hiro & Ryoko) who are currently 4-0. We then raided the FCTC 9.0 team and drafted the talented Barbara Ramo, Linda Burke, Dave Rich and 9.0 captain himself Ajay John! (note: things were tough and there was no time for discretion).
With the remainder of our returning squad: Richard Chang, Stephanie Perry, Penny Wilson, Tony Durfor, Judy Olson and Jane Reynolds, we've been able to mix and match our way to victory after victory.
It has been and will continue to be a fine year for our MXD 8.0 team, one of FCTC's finest. We've a great blend of real nice people who just happen to know how to play tennis -very well. With that in mind we bid a sad adieu to departing teammates Rob and Ann Wild (New Jersey), Eric Hsiao (LA) and Maddy Reddy (retired?), while welcoming our newer members to be a part of our winning tradition.
by Ajay John, Captain 9.0 Mixed Doubles Team
The Mixed 9.0 team - a new addition to the FCTC league team tennis - has had a pretty successful season so far. After 5 weeks of some great tennis, we have a 4-1 record and share the No. 2 spot with Courtside, barely behind the leader Los Gatos B.
We started off the season with a convincing 3-0 victory over Rengstroff Park but lost a very close second match to Peninsula Covenant 1-2. We have not looked back since then and now have a 3-match winning streak defeating Pacific Athletic Club A, Foothills & a very strong Alpine team.
The members of the Mixed 9.0 team are a bunch of 22 extremely talented and wonderful people representing 7 different countries. We, however, lost 2 strong teams this week, with Marika & Luc going back to Belgium and Robert & Ann moving to the east coast. But we are confident that the rest of us will easily step up and continue our winning ways.
Updated 10/29/01
© 2001 Foster City Tennis Club