Local tennis team triumphs, wins US title

A women’s tennis team from Escondido, represent­ing the United States Tennis Association’s Southern California Section, captured the national title at the USTA League Adult 55 & Over 8.0 National Cham­pionships held at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Com­plex in Surprise, AZ.

The Escondido team defeated a team from Lake Os­wego, OR., 2-1 in the championship match on Sunday, Oct. 18. Earlier in the day, the Escondido team defeated a team from Mount Pleasant, S.C., 2-1 in the semifi­nals.

They advanced that far by winning their round-robin flight contested Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23 and 24.

The team is captained by Hitomi Wittl from Escon­dido. The team features: Joan Hynes of San Diego, Lourdes Bourne of Rancho Santa Fe, Renee Gerrick of Escondido, Lisa Dee Farr of Escondido, Kelly Vil­lasenor of Del Mar, Elizabeth Dammeyer of San Diego, Elvia Martinez of Carlsbad, Barbara Roorda of Rancho Santa Fe, Susan Bourcy of Escondido, Patricia Sher­man of San Diego, and Jeanne Marie Wood of Oceans­ide. The team practices and plays at Kit Carson Park.

Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 participants in a few parts of the country in its first year to more than 865,000 players across the na­tion today, making it the world’s largest recreational tennis league.

USTA League was established to provide adult rec­reational tennis players throughout the country with the opportunity to compete against players of similar abil­ity levels.

Players participate on teams in a league format, which is administered by the USTA through its 17 sec­tions. The league groups players by using six National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) levels, ranging from 2.5 (entry) to 5.0 (advanced). USTA League is open to any USTA member 18 years of age or older.

The 2015 USTA League season will be the third sea­son with the updated structure and format, which of­fers four age categories (Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over, Adult 55 & Over and Mixed 18 & Over) to better align participants with players their own age.

A fifth age division, the Mixed 40 & Over division, was added last year. The restructuring guarantees more frequency of play opportunities at more appropriate age groups. nities at more appropriate age groups.