MXD 18 & Over Championships

6.0 Mxd – Salisbury Brinkman – WINNER
7.0 Mxd – Salisbury KIM – 2nd Place
8.0 Mxd -Raintree MOODY – 2nd Place

Adult 18 & Over Championships

2.5 W – Richmond Westwood CARPENTER – WINNER
2.5 W – Richmond Salisbury MILLER- 2nd Place
3.0 W – Dominion RACELIS Alley Cats – WINNER
3.0 W – Westwood NILSON Lively BBs – 2nd Place
4.0 W – ACAC BRADT – 2nd Place
4.5 W – Richmond Raintree FINNEGAN- 2nd Place
3.0 M – ACAC Pinsker – WINNER
3.0 M – Westwood Wanderers HAUSE – WINNER
3.5 M – James River Surge STEPHENS – WINNER
3.5 M – Westwood Whackers PAYNE – 2nd Place
3.5 M- Willow Oaks STALLS – 2nd Place
4.0 M –  Belmont Young Guns DOWDY – 2nd Place
4.5 M – Southampton Balloon Fingers- 2nd Place

USTA Boys 12s National Clay Court Championship (Winston Salem, N.C.)

Spencer Whitaker (Richmond, Va.) won the Gold Ball in doubles. He and his partner Justin Boulais (USTA Southern) cruised to the championship, never dropping more than 2 games in any set they played.

Spencer was also given the 2014 Sportsmanship Award. “Spencer has displayed great sportsmanship on and off the court this week in Winston-Salem, N.C. He has shown all week what it means to be a great ambassador of our sport of tennis,” and Tournament Director, Hans Olsen.

The ARTP (Association of Richmond Tennis Professionals) is holding a charity doubles event to provide funding for tennis programs in Richmond City Schools. All donations will be used to purchase balls, nets, and education for the coaches.

The event will be Sunday, August 24th at Raintree.

Events
This is a single set doubles tournament with three divisions. Adults may play with children in any division.

Advanced: players who have played on high school teams, adult tournaments or leagues, and advanced junior tournaments

Intermediate: players who have played middle school tennis, adults with lower ratings, and juniors who have played a few tournaments

Orange Ball (Novice): adults and junior players who are out to have a fun time and to support the tournament. (All levels)

Registration
The cost is a $25 donation per player. The deadline is Friday, August 22nd.

Use the attached Raintree Charity Doubles form to register or contact Raintree to sign-up today.

Be a part of the Davenport & Company Richmond Tennis Championships by playing in the Rated Singles Division this weekend, Saturday, August 23rd. Men and Women rated 3.0 to 4.5 will compete in a Round Robin tournament at Byrd Park. This tournament is fun and relaxing while also bringing together some great competition on the courts!

Register today

Teams are forming now for the 2014 Fall Season of JTT in Richmond.

12U, 14U, and 18U 

• The deadline to register is September 1st.
• Matches are played on Sunday afternoons beginning September 14th.
• For more information contact Kelley Glen at jttrichmond@gmail.com

Teams from Richmond competed at the Mid-Atlantic Sectional tournament recently. Congratulations to the 3.0 Women’s Dominion Racelis Alley Cats for winning their division and to all the teams who competed!

2.5 W – Richmond Westwood CARPENTER – Finalist
3.0 W – Dominion RACELIS Alley Cats – WINNER

2.5 M – RIchmond Dreyer- Finalist
3.0 M – ACAC Pinsker – Finalist

Richmond Jr. Team Tennis teams took to the courts of Boars Head Sports Club August 8-10 to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Sectional Championships.

Westwood 10U INT Finalists

Westwood 14U ADV Finalists

Burkwood 14U INT Finalists

Westwood 18U ADV Finalists

Richmond sometimes has the wackiest weather patterns.  The sun may be shining and the sky may be blue in one Richmond location while the sky is dark and a deluge pours down one mile away.  The “Tuesday Tennis End of Summer Cookout Play Day and Tennis Festival” scheduled for Tuesday, August 12^th was a casualty of one such weather pattern and had to be rescheduled to Saturday.  The weather on Saturday was picture perfect, and the cookout was well attended although Rodney Harmon, the planned keynote speaker could not attend.

As far as we are aware, this was the first time students of Metro Richmond Tennis Club’s Tuesday Tennis program and the City of Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities Summer Camp program shared courts together with volunteer help from the Richmond Tennis Association.  The Westover Hills Tennis Complex was a perfect site for the first ever three way partnership, and the volunteer turnout was phenomenal.

Activities were designed to challenge and entertain everyone who attended. Four short “red ball” courts gave eight and under players opportunities to hit with one another and to receive guidance from experienced coaches.  Even younger participants played games such as tennis can bowling, hula hoop baseball and Beanie Baby™ toss and catch.

Three blended lined courts were used for short format “orange ball” matches on the sixty foot courts.  A radar gun was provided by Virginia Tennis to measure fast serves were set up on one traditional court.  Two courts were converted into prize courts where everyone could win a prize. The racquets donated by the Washington Kastles, the first World Team Tennis franchise to win the league championships four years in a row and the team with the longest winning streak in any professional sport, were on one prize court open only to students ten years old or younger.  The other prize court was open to all, and prizes included T-shirts, US Open hats, tennis racquets, racquet bags, beach balls and many more.  Prizes were donated by the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section and by USTA.  Donations made by Costco, Kroger and Martins stores help fund free hot dogs, chips and juice packs for participants and volunteers.

Everyone had fun and went home happy.

Photos taken by Wendell Ellison

After a summer of Saturday one-day tournaments the Richmond Junior Circuit Masters tournament was held Saturday, August 16 at CCV. The top 8 players from each age division played in this event. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Circuit this summer! Here are the RJTC Final Standings 2014

The Champions and Finalists are listed below.

CO-ED 8s
Winner: Ryan Good 2-0
Finalist: Caleb Jones

Girls 10s
Winner: Kaylee Moore 6-4
Finalist: Ella Walton

Girls 12s
Winner: Natalie Kim 6-4
Finalist: Anna Pastore

Girls 14s
Winner: Ann Westerman 6-3
Finalist: Marietta Wickman

Boys 10s
Winner: Drew Atiyah 6-2
Finalist: Owen Walton

Boys 12s
Winner: Aden Bashir 6-1
Finalist: Reid Coleman

Boys 14s
Winner: Yash Singh 6-3
Finalist: Joshua Kalman

Rodney Harmon bounded from one court to another, with the same youthful enthusiasm that he used to exhibit as a youngster growing up in Richmond.

Like the college coach he is, Jim Thompson made sure that all of the campers understood what he was talking about as he drilled them on the correct way to play doubles.

On the final day of the College Week Camp at Willow Oaks Country Club last week, retired coach Bob Bayliss lectured the players on controlling their emotions on the court.

All of them have connections with Richmond tennis, with Harmon and Bayliss having the deepest roots, since they were born here. Thompson spent his senior year of high school in Richmond, a very important time in his life.

The trio was part of the coaching staff for the second week of college camps at Willow Oaks this summer, and each one of them thoroughly enjoyed themselves during the day they were responsible for instructing the kids ranging from 9 to 18.

The College Week Camp was started nine years ago by Cris Robinson, director of tennis at Willow Oaks, and has developed into one of the best – as well as best-attended – camps of its kind in the area.

“It’s fun,” said Harmon, 52, who is entering his third year as the women’s coach at Georgia Tech. “It’s so much fun. It reminds me of the times when we were younger, and we’d have some of the top kids in Richmond play against some of the college players.

“It’s good to come back and share and help out. Hopefully, give them the benefit of the knowledge from what I’ve learned over the years I’ve played.”

After splitting his college career between the University of Tennessee and Southern Methodist, Harmon turned pro and was ranked as high as No. 56 in the world. He reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 1982 and the third round at Wimbledon in 1983.

“I have fond memories of when I was here,” said Thompson, 47, who is beginning his 17^th season as the men’s coach at Virginia Tech.  “I really like Cris and I like what he’s doing here, so I like to support that part.

“I’m also at a state school and I’d love to see a lot of good players coming [to Va. Tech] from the Richmond area. To give back is always what my dad taught me, and there were a lot of people that helped me along the way. So if I can help touch these kids a little bit, it’s fun.”

Harmon learned the game on the courts of Battery Park and Byrd Park during his formative years. The legacy of former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Arthur Ashe also loomed large in the black community.

“For me, Richmond is where it all began,” said Harmon, who has also worked for the U.S. Tennis Association’s development program. “I was fortunate to grow up during the era when tennis was booming and obviously in Richmond where Arthur Ashe came from.

“Mr. Ashe [Sr.] was the policeman at the park where I grew up, at Battery. So Arthur’s shadow was at our place. Everyone played tennis. I was fortunate to live very close to tennis courts, and Richmond had a really good NJTL [National Junior Tennis League] program.

“That let me get started and play competition and have a group of friends who also played tennis. Obviously, the Richmond Tennis Patrons did a great job helping all the kids in Richmond. So without them and support from the North Side of Richmond, I don’t think I would have had the chance to be as good a player as I was able to become.”

Harmon recalls with fondness the local mentors who helped him get started and improve his game.

“Fred Koechlein helped me so much,” said Harmon. “He was so kind to me. He would give me free lessons and work with me on my game a lot. Craig Cooley, the tennis coach at Thomas Jefferson, helped me a ton as well.

“Colin Gibb, who was in Richmond then, worked with me when I first started. When he ran the NJTL, he was in law school at the University of Richmond. And Mr. [Hugh] Waters helped me. We used to play a lot at his tennis academy with his son [Hugh Waters IV] and Margie [Waters] and Steve Wilson, all the gang growing up in Richmond at that time.

“He knew we didn’t have any money, so he never charged anybody. He was trying to promote tennis in the area. Tom Magner helped out a lot. Basically, everyone in Richmond would help out. It was a group effort.”

Thompson was a member of an exceptional team at Douglas Freeman High School in 1983-84, when he moved to Richmond from Marion, which is located in the far southwest part of Virginia. He lived with Dr. Bill Walker, who was the men’s coach at UR.

“My teammates were Ed Butterworth and Clint Greene,” said Thompson, who has been a part of every College Week Camp. “Keith DeShazo, I think, was on the team. Clint and I won [Group AAA doubles title] in state. And my buddy Kenny Thorne was at Mills Godwin at the same time.

“It’s hard to describe [how much that year meant]. I grew up in Marion, which is a small town of about 8,000. As I got older, it was harder and harder to find anyone to play tennis with at that level. It was frustrating.

“When the opportunity came to come to Richmond, it was like putting me in a candy shop. Tennis players on every corner. We had an unbelievable drill group. There were tons of pros around. Being around Kenny really shaped everything for me.”

That included Thompson being recruited to and winding up at Davidson for his college years.

“Kenny rode back on an airplane from Kalamazoo [Mich.] with the Davidson tennis coach and told him about me and that he should recruit me. That’s how I ended up at Davidson. The year meant an awful lot to me.”

Thompson recalls working with the RTA group that included Sonny Dearth, Carl Bell, Wade McGuire, Billy Eck, Chris Conk and Thorne.

And lastly, there’s Bayliss, 70, who retired as the men’s coach at Notre Dame last year after 26 seasons. Bayliss, who is a member of the Richmond Tennis Hall of Fame and the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, was a Sam Woods’ protégé at Byrd Park.

“I never had any lessons,” said Bayliss, who spent his summers at Byrd Park learning the finer points of the game by playing with older men and Woods, the legendary coach at Thomas Jefferson who also was the unofficial pro at Byrd Park.

Bayliss got his start in coaching at UR the year after he graduated (1966) while also working for Koechlein at the Country Club of Virginia. He coached one year at TJ before taking a job with Navy (where he stayed for 15 years) and MIT (three years) before going to Notre Dame.

“Richmond has always been a special place for me,” said Bayliss. “It’s where I learned to play. I still have unbelievable memories of so many people. I get back here every year and drive over to TJ and look at the courts and remember so many things.”

Robinson is thankful he’s been able to call on the expertise of former Richmonders like Bayliss and Harmon, as well as Thompson.

“It was exciting to add Rodney to this year’s coaching staff,” he said. “Having Harmon, Thompson and Bayliss on back-to-back days was really amazing. To bring these experts in tennis back to Richmond, in order to help our current juniors, is a privilege.”

It should have come as no surprise when Chris Wallace captured his third men’s 35-and-over singles title Sunday in the Davenport City Tennis Championships at Willow Oaks Country Club.

After all, Wallace is the top-ranked player in the Mid-Atlantic Tennis Association for his age group and was ranked No. 7 in the country last year as determined by the U.S. Tennis Association.

A former Collegiate High School star and All-American at Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Wallace has remained competitive since his junior days and still holds his own on the court with most anyone.

“It’s kind of been a lifestyle choice for me,” said Wallace. “Just trying to stay healthy and stay active. Just something I like to do. I just try to find the time to stay fit and play a few tournaments and stay competitive.”

Wallace, seeded No. 1 in the small field of eight, needed to be on top of his game for his three matches in the city tournament. The luck of the draw put the 39-year-old on the toughest side but he battled his way into the final.

First up was newcomer Sameer Kumar, with Wallace winning 6-2, 6-3.

“Very good player,” said Wallace. “Strong ground strokes on both sides. We had a pretty long, physical match. It was closer than the score indicated.”

In the semifinals, Wallace disposed of ex-junior standout Cary Broocks 6-0, 7-5.

“He was a little off in the first set,” Wallace said, “but really came on strong. The quality of tennis in the second set was pretty high. I was probably fortunate to win it.”

That set up the final with another former junior standout, Bobby Fauntleroy, the No. 2 seed, who had coasted through his half. The match was moved indoors because of rain, which changed the surface from clay to hard.

“We played on a faster surface and Bobby likes to play aggressive,” said Wallace. “Likes to keep the ball low and come in. He’s not much for trading ground strokes. He’s also got a very good serve, so we were pretty consistently holding serve.”

One service break decided the opening set, and Wallace served for the match at 5-4 but was broken.

“He hit some really good returns that game and broke me,” Wallace said. “So we ended up going to the tiebreaker.”

Wallace pulled it out and won the match 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Had it gone to a third set, a 10-point tiebreaker would have been played instead of a full set.

“All of a sudden, I had won the first set and was up a break in the second and feeling like I’m in control of the match,” said Wallace. “Then when he breaks me, it’s 5-all and comes down to two more games and potentially two more tiebreakers.

“Once you get to that point, anybody could win.”

Wallace, a partner with the Keiter accounting firm, keeps his game sharp by practicing with some of the area’s best juniors, such as Justin Cerny and Tate Steinour, at Salisbury Country Club, where he is a member.

Wallace also played in the open division of the Davenport tournament, where he reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Michal Ciszek. He is scheduled to play in the National Grass Courts at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in August.

In other senior division finals, Robert Musick defeated Neal Thompson 8-0 in the men’s 65 singles title match, and Mathias Schon captured the men’s 70 singles crown with a pair of round-robin victories.

In the only other category up for grabs, Musick and Tom Robertson claimed the men’s 65 doubles title with two round-robin wins.

Here are the final standings from the Summer 2014 tournament series. RJTC Final Standings 2014

Joe Cappellino will be inviting the top 8 players in each age group to the Masters Tournament to be held at CCV on August 16.  If the top 8 players cannot make the tournament then the next person in line (#9) will be invited, and so on until there are 8 players in each draw.  The Masters Tournament is a single elimination tournament.  If players are tied in points then the person who has the highest per tournament average amongst the two will be invited.

Congratulations to Richmond’s 9.0 mixed team, “the Chicago Blackhawks,” who finished in first place at the USTA Mid-Atlantic Sectional Championships in Newport News and qualified for the USTA National 40s Mixed 9.0 Championships inSurprize, Arizona on November 21-23.

The Sectional Championships brought a unique match format in which two teams played twice with the best record advancing to Nationals.  The Richmond and Maryland teams were evenly matched. Despite a strong start with a straight-set win by Ed Butterworth and Aimee Zona, Maryland edged out the 2-1 team win on Saturday with a pair of third-set tie-breaker victories.  Sunday was a must-win match and started with a 1-0 lead with a straight-set win from Hylah Ballowe and Bryan Bostic.  A narrow third-set tie-breaker loss at the No. 1 position tied the match at 1-1 with one match remaining on court.  When Sean Reynolds and Julie Ogborne clinched a 7-5, 7-5 win, the final mathematical tally of least sets lost put the team in first place!

Team photo (left to right): Chris Blair, Hylah Ballowe, Bryan Bostic, Aimee Zona, Ed Butterworth, captain Julie Ogborne and Sean Reynolds

Not pictured: Walton Makepeace, Becky Oatts, Liza Wallace, Beth O’Neill and Katherine Mueller

Congratulations to CCV’s men’s team who qualified for the USTA 4.5+ Men’s National Championships with a dramatic win today at the Mid-Atlantic Sectional Championships in Newport News, VA.  Heading into the final day of competition with a 2-0 record, the final match against Virginia Beach was moved indoors and utilized a challenging shortened format of 8-game pro-sets with no-ad scoring.  Despite two 9-7 losses, the team finished strong with a pair of singles victories by Chris Mumford and Clifford Foster and the final third point for the team victory came from duo Bryan Bostic and Jim Cain. 

The squad is undefeated this season with a 9-0 Richmond league record along with a 5-0 combined record at the Virginia District Championships and the Mid-Atlantic Sectional Championships.  The National Championships will take place in Indian Wells, California on October 31-November 2.  Good luck!

It certainly won’t qualify as “breaking news” if Atlantic Coast Atlantic Club (ACAC) of Richmond wins – once again — the Anthem Club Challenge, which runs from Friday through Sunday at the Westwood Club.

After all, the Chesterfield County club, formerly known as Briarwood Swim and Racquet Club, has captured the past three championships, and there’s little reason to believe they won’t repeat in 2014.

Of course, there are 11 other clubs in the city-wide competition with other ideas but ACAC seems to have an edge most years. In the first 20 years of the doubles-only tournament, ACAC claimed the title nine times.

The fitness aspect of ACAC attracts a large membership, and the tennis membership keeps growing too. Many of the top players in the metropolitan area belong, and these racquet-wielding citizens take the game seriously.

“Our preparation is the key,” said Jason Kinder, director of tennis at ACAC and captain of the squad that will be seeking to tie the record of four straight Anthem crowns that was set by the Riverside-Briarwood teams from 1995-98.

“We’ve been training for six weeks prior to this weekend to get ready,” continued Kinder, “and we train as a team. We hold about three practices a week to get the team ready for the tournament.”

The overall team is chosen in the spring but challenges can sometimes change the players and teams, which range from 3.0 to 5.0 under the United States Tennis Association rating system, before the big event.

“We welcome challengers because that makes our team better,” said Kinder. “And this year, of all years, we’ve had a lot of challengers come on the team. I’d say we have a vastly different team from last year.

“We’ve had a lot of players get bumped up or bumped down [from one level to another] this year. We have to rebuild our team every year, but this has been a very challenging year. So we’ve been working hard to get a good team in place to compete for four in a row.”

One of those team members is Will Kaufmann, who has been a member at ACAC since 1990. Kaufmann, 52, has also been on each of the nine teams that won the Anthem title, the only member who can make that claim.

“I guess I’m the old-timer on the team,” chuckled Kaufmann, who will be playing 4.5 mixed doubles with Joyce Steed, ACAC’s general manager. With one exception, Kaufmann has played at the 4.5 level every year.

“It’s a lot of fun, it really is,” he said. “You want to get out there and win the match for your team, but at the end of the day, it’s about fun. My match has the same weight to it that even some of the lower levels have. That’s what makes it great.

“I can’t say that I know everybody on the team. I haven’t talked to everybody but I’ve met most of them. There’s always some new faces, and I’ll get to talk to them this weekend. People come and go. People move away.”

Kaufmann has played his share of memorable matches over the year but one stands out.

“One of the strangest matches I remember is playing against a woman whose brother is a good friend of mine,” said Kaufmann. “This was about 15 years ago, and here we are, playing a competitive match, and she was seven months pregnant.”

As for ACAC’s chances, Kaufmann said, “I wouldn’t bet against us.”

Joining Kinder in ACAC’s 5.0 lineup will be Ryan Radke, city tournament runner-up for two of the past three years, Al Thomas and Ben Hall.

“I would like to recognize all of my players and how proud I am of them,” said Kinder, “and how hard they’ve worked to get to this weekend to represent my club. I’m just very thankful for all of their efforts because it’s a huge commitment.

“It’s not just going up and playing three matches [over three days]. It’s a tremendous commitment to the team and the club.”

Kinder figures his chief competition will come from either Salisbury Country Club, which has been runner-up for two of the past three years, as well as past champions Country Club of Virginia and host Westwood.

Other clubs in the tournament are Burkwood, Raintree Swim and Racquet Club, Willow Oaks Country Club, Dominion Club, Woodlake Swim and Racquet Club, Midlothian Athletic Club, Hermitage Country Club and Midlothian Tennis Club.

Play begins at 8 a.m. each day and runs until early evening. Teams are awarded two points for a win and one for a loss. A forfeit doesn’t earn anything. There is play in men’s and women’s doubles, as well as mixed doubles.

Not surprisingly, Atlantic Coast Athletic Club (ACAC) took the early lead after one day of the Anthem Club Challenge at the Westwood Club.

This is the same ACAC that has won the past three championships of the city-wide, doubles-only tournament that features play in divisions from 3.0 to 5.0 on the United States Tennis Association rating scale.

The Chesterfield County Club appears to be in excellent shape to claim its fourth straight title, but Jason Kinder, team captain and director of tennis at ACAC, says there’s a long way to go.

“We don’t think that way at all,” said Kinder, whose club finished the first of three days of competition with 39 points, three more than Salisbury Country Club. The Dominion Club was in third place with 35 points.

“It’s nice to have a lead but complacency is not in our vocabulary,” said Kinder. “We’ll go out and push some more tomorrow [Saturday]. My team knows they have to go out there and compete. There’s a lot of great teams out there.”

ACAC got most of its points from the lower levels, from 3.0 through 4.0. It was 9-1 through the 3.5 division and 13-2 when the 4.0s were finished, and as Kinder said, “You’re not going to do much better than that.”

Teams get two points for a win, one point for a loss and nothing for a forfeit.

“If today is a reflection of how we’re going to do through the weekend, our lower levels will probably win the tournament for us,” said Kinder. “I don’t want to put any pressure on them but that’s a pretty good showing.”

Play begins at 8 a.m. each day and usually runs until the early evening.

“My team was ready to play today,” said Kinder. “We had a good practice on Thursday night and they came out here ready as a team. They supported each other and played hard.”

Salisbury, which dropped a couple of third-set tie-breakers that could have moved it closer to ACAC, has finished second two of the last three years, and is making another run.

“The 3.0s and 3.5s carried us,” said Scott Steinour, director of racquet sports at Salisbury. “They went 4-1 and 4-1, then we swept the 5.0s, which was good. We’re right in the mix. That’s where we wanted to be … off to a good start.

“If we could have won those two tie-breakers, it would have given us 38 points. Usually, our first day is an average day and hopefully, we’ll do better tomorrow [Saturday].”

Dominion, which has never won the tournament, was fairly strong in each of the categories, in holding down the third spot.

There is a four-way tie for fourth place, headed by former champions Raintree Swim and Racquet Club and Woodlake Swim and Racquet Club. The Burkwood Club and Hermitage Country Club also have 34 points.

Four-time champion Country Club of Virginia was mired in eighth place with 32 points, just ahead of five-time titlist and host Westwood (31).

Bringing up the rear is Willow Oaks Country Club and Midlothian Tennis Club, each of whom had 30 points, and Midlothian Athletic Club (27).

The weather couldn’t have been nicer for the opening day of the tournament, with temperatures in the mid-70s and low humidity. More of the same is on tap for Saturday and Sunday, although it will be a little warmer at 80 or so.

There are sure to be plenty of interesting and down-to-the-wire matches on the final two days of the competition, as the rest of the field will be attempting to deny ACAC its 10^th overall title.

The tournament is co-sponsored by the Richmond Tennis Association, along with Anthem.

“Words can’t describe what took place today,” said Jason Kinder, team captain and director of tennis at Atlantic Coast Athletic Club.

It was indeed almost impossible to explain how thoroughly ACAC dominated the second day of the Anthem Club Challenge Saturday at the Westwood Club.

ACAC went 15-0 from 3.0 through 4.0 and finished the day 21-1, giving them a commanding 11-point lead heading into the final day of the city-wide, doubles-only competition that uses the United States Tennis Association rating system.

It’s very likely the finest day any team has had in the 22-year history of the event that includes the top clubs in the area.

“In my knowledge of this event, nobody has ever done what we did today,” said Kinder, who has been involved in nearly every tournament over the years with ACAC.

The only loss came in the 4.5 men’s number two match, where the Country Club of Virginia’s Chris Blair and Charles Valentine defeated the ACAC duo of Alan Cannady and Mike Aulgur.

“We lost to a team that was definitely better than us,” said Kinder. “They deserved that match. They did a great job.”

Of a possible 44 points, ACAC earned 43 to give them a two-day total of 82 and all but wrap up the fourth consecutive championship for the Chesterfield County club. Teams receive two points for a win, one for a loss and nothing for a forfeit.

“In the middle of the day, my team knew what was going on,” said Kinder. “No one wanted to be the ones to drop a match. We wanted to try to get all 22, no doubt about it. There were a lot of tiebreakers out there that we won.”

Kinder said ACAC won’t be taking anything for granted on the final day.

“By my math, we’re going to have to get 110 points at least to win,” said Kinder. “Nobody is going to be overconfident [Sunday]. I’ll start the message off early in the morning with my team, and we’ll go out there and work as hard as we did today if not harder.

“We will not coast. We will not be complacent. We’re going to have to go earn it. We can’t just show up.”

The closest club to ACAC is Dominion Club, which has surprised most observers with its showing this year. But Dominion is 11 points behind ACAC with 71 over two days.  Dominion’s best previous finish is fifth.

“We’ve gotten so many more tennis members at our club,” said Joe Cappellino, captain of the Dominion group and director of tennis at the western Henrico County club. “Now we have more players to choose from. The challenges are a little bit stronger.

“So that makes our team better from top to bottom. Our 3.0s have carried us two days in a row and our 3.5s stepped up today. Actually, our 3.0s have been fantastic for the past few years. They were always tough.

“But we had a good day overall. We won all our tiebreakers. That helps.”

Even though first place is probably out of reach, Cappellino would be ecstatic to finish second.

“This is the highest we’ve ever been,” said Cappellino. “Anything above fifth would be fantastic.”

Salisbury Country Club, which has been runner-up two of the past three years, fell from second to third with 70 points after a subpar day. Host Westwood and Burkwood Club are tied for fourth with 69 points apiece. Westwood had a big day, collecting 38 points.

Rounding out the 12-team competition was CCV (67 points), Woodlake Swim and Racquet Club (65), Raintree Swim and Racquet Club (64), Hermitage Country Club (63), Willow Oaks Country Club (60), Midlothian Athletic Club (57) and Midlothian Tennis Club (55).

Play will begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday and wrap up around 7:30 in the evening, when ACAC is expected to be crowned champion for the 10^th time.

There was never any doubt that Atlantic Coast Athletic Club (ACAC) was going to win the Anthem Challenge, which wrapped up a three-day run Sunday at the Westwood Club.

After all, the Chesterfield County club took an almost- insurmountable, 11-point lead into the final day of competition that produces the best tennis-playing club in the area.

But, ever the cautious captain, Jason Kinder wasn’t certain of his team’s chances until around noon.

“There was a moment today when we had three matches on and they were all tight,” said Kinder. “If we hadn’t won those three matches, who knows what could have happened, in terms of the team and their psyche.”

Stop worrying so much Jason, ACAC was going to win its fourth straight Anthem championship and  10^th overall.

“Our 3.0 mixed match fought back from a set down and won a huge tiebreaker,” said Kinder. “That kind of put me at ease. That the finish line was in sight at that point.”

In what was perhaps the most one-sided Anthem Challenge in the 22-year history of the doubles-only event, ACAC finished with 120 points, a whopping 11 more than runner-up Salisbury Country Club’s 109.

“This was a record-breaking performance today by my team,” said Kinder, “in terms of 120 points. I don’t think any team has ever done that before. It’s a great team. Best team that’s ever played in this tournament. They all worked hard and they deserved it.”

ACAC picked up many of its points from the lower levels, such as 3.0 and 3.5. The 3.0s went 14-1 in the tournament, earning 29 of a possible 30 points in matches being played under the United States Tennis Association rating scale.

Ryan Bardaro and Greg Harris

One of those 3.0s was the duo of Greg Harris and Ryan Bardaro, who were unbeaten. Harris had gone 0-3 last year with a different partner.

“It wasn’t pretty,” said Harris. “We got destroyed.”

Chimed in his partner, “Greg had a huge turnaround this year. Going from 0-3 to 3-0.”

Harris and Bardaro had to challenge to gain their spot on the roster this year, and they earned it. They’ve been playing together for about a year now and it showed in how they handled their opponents.

“We probably knew each other’s games inside and out by the time we got to this weekend,” said Bardaro.

“This is such a great tournament,” said Harris. “It brings all the clubs in Richmond together. It’s people you don’t see but maybe two or three times a year that love the same thing: to play tennis. It’s a lot of fun.”

Added Bardaro, “It’s like a little village atmosphere. Westwood has a fantastic facility to put it on. The weather has been great.”

Another lower-level team that went 3-0 during the weekend was the 3.5 mixed tandem of Rhysa South and Mike Battle. Like Harris and Bardaro, South and Battle had to win two out of three challenge matches to make the squad.

Rhysa South and Mike Battle

“Jason has done a fabulous job of getting us to practice, teaching us the pros and cons of our game, so we can complement each other,” said Battle, a former football player at L.C. Bird High School and the University of Virginia.

All three of the South-Battle matches went to a third set, which is decided by a 10-point tiebreaker.

“We had about a three-hour match [Saturday],” said Battle. “I probably lost about 20 pounds.”

A former high-school basketball player, South took up tennis after joining ACAC in 1989.

“Three tough, tough matches,” said South. “All tiebreaks. As I told my husband, this is really hard but it’s supposed to be. It’s been great tennis, nice people and a lot of fun. It’s a blessing to be out here. It was a great weekend.”

Salisbury, which collected 39 points Sunday, finished second for the third time in four years. Burkwood and Dominion Club tied for third with 105 points, the highest finish for both clubs. Former champions Country Club of Virginia and host Westwood tied for fifth with 102.

Rounding out the 12-team competition was Woodlake Swim and Racquet Club and Raintree Swim and Racquet Club (each with 97), Willow Oaks Country Club and Hermitage CC (each with 91), Midlothian Tennis Club (86) and Midlothian Athletic Club (83).

Heading into the final day of the Data Technologies Autumn Cup, Three Chopt Recreation Club and Ridgetop Recreation Association were tied for the top spot in the eighth annual event at Avalon Recreation Association.

Pat Anderson, director of tennis at Ridgetop and the team captain, decided it might be time to shake up the lineups a little.

So he made some tweaks in several of the doubles teams, and it paid off in a narrow victory over Three Chopt.

“I actually changed the lineups on Sunday,” said Anderson, “because the 6.0 men did great on Friday and I was bragging on them. But they fell apart on Saturday. So on Sunday, I switched the 6.0s around. Same people played but with different guys.

“It worked because they won every single match. This was the first time a lot of them had played in a tournament like this.”

Ridgetop went 10-1 from 5.0 women through 7.0 mixed for 21 of a possible 22 points while Three Chopt started 8-3. That gave Ridgetop enough of a cushion to survive a rocky 8.0 showing (1-4) while Three Chopt went 2-3 in the 8.0s.

“It seemed like, all weekend, when one group lost a couple matches, the other level would pick it up,” said Anderson.

Much like the Anthem Challenge (larger clubs) played the previous weekend at Westwood, the Data Technologies Autumn Cup used the United States Tennis Association rating scale to determine the pairings for each of the divisions.

In the Autumn Cup, players can have different ratings within a single team. For example, in the 7.0 division, there can be one 4.0 and one 3.0 to make up that pairing. Or you can have two 3.5s on that team. Each of the divisions features men’s, women’s and mixed doubles.

There is also one 5.0 women’s division but no men’s teams at that level. Winners receive two points and losers one point.

When the final ball had been struck on Sunday at Avalon, Ridgetop had 79 points and Three Chopt 78.

But Ridgetop picked up 11/2 more points from a match with Avalon that was postponed and never finished on Friday night because of rain. That gave Ridgetop a final total of 801/2 points and its third Autumn Cup title.

Southampton was third with 72 points and defending champion Avalon fourth (711/2). Bon Air Community Association and Kanawha Recreation Association tied for fifth with 71 points, while Richmond Country Club (68) was seventh and Metro Richmond Tennis Club (63) eighth.

Two key, head-to-head matches played a big role in the final tally. Ridgetop and Three Chopt met in the 6.0 women’s number two and the 7.0 men’s number one matches. Ridgetop emerged victorious in both of them.

In the 6.0 women’s meeting, Renee Riggs and Joann Wilson of Ridgetop defeated Heather Barber and Deb Wake in straight sets, while Craig Smith and Rusty Dean beat the Three Chopt duo of Tim Parks and Andy Mergenmier in straight sets.

“It was even-steven until it got to the middle of the 8.0s on Sunday,” said Anderson. “It was tight the whole way.”

As usual, third-set tiebreakers made a difference in the final standings. A 10-point tiebreaker is played when the teams split sets.

“We took some tough losses on Sunday in third-set breakers,” said Rob Johnston, director of tennis at Three Chopt and captain of the squad. “Also, we only played Ridgetop twice all day on Sunday and we lost both of them. They took their two points and ran.”

Three Chopt, which has never won the competition, was runner-up for the second straight year.

“The first year we entered it, we finished fourth,” said Johnston. “Three years ago, we were third and now two years in a row, we’ve been second. Our team is so excited about this event every single year.

They want it so much. We’re going to pull through one year.”

Avalon (five times) and Ridgetop (three) are the only previous winners of the event, so perhaps it’s time for a new champion in 2015.