18s Team Tennis Nationals Finals

For the 2nd straight weekend, RCC had a team reach the Final Four of the Junior Team Tennis National Championships.  The 18s Int team reached the finals last weekend, the best result at Nationals by a Racquet Club team.

The team consisted of Alex Hulka, Shuo Liu, Arjun Venkataraman, Brianna Brdicka, Ashley Weeks and Nicole Holman.  Amber Lee and Beniva Ganther were also on the team but couldn’t go.

The team won it’s 1st match on Friday against New England (Massachusetts), winning 4 out of 5 courts.

Later that day, the team won against Northern (Wisconsin).  The team won 3 out of 5 courts, but were very competitive in the 2 losses, and picked up multiple games in singles.  Alex Hulka, who was competitive in Singles matches all weekend, rebounded from the morning posting a very solid 6-3 6-1 win.  Ashley Weeks and Nicole Holman lost only one match the whole tournament, which came against Northern, in which they only lost by 2 games 6-5 6-5.  Boys doubles were also in competitive matches the whole tournament, and improved each match as the tournament went on.  They lost to Northern, but went 3 tiebreakers.  Brianna Brdicka won in singles and in mixed doubles with Shuo Liu.

The team swept is final flight match against So Cal, and earned a spot in the semifinals.

In the semi, the team defeated a strong Mid-Atlantic team from Washington D.C.  Girls doubles posted a huge 6-1, 6-3 win.  Alex Hulka lost in a 3rd set, but won by 4 total games, winning the 1st set 6-0.  Brdicka continued her strong weekend with another big win in singles.  Shuo Liu went undefeated with Brdicka in mixed doubles.

RCC fell in the Final to a strong Middle States team that had many college players.

Brdicka was very competitive in her only loss of the weekend, losing in two tiebreak sets.  Girls doubles continued a very strong weekend with a 6-5 6-2 win.  Venkataraman and Liu at Boys doubles lost 14-12 in the 3rd in probably the most exciting match of the weekend, battling back from 1-5.

The team received a Banner and a plate at the closing ceremonies for reaching the Finals.

Also, from Midwest, Scarborough got 5th place in 18s Adv, losing to the Texas team who won the tournament.