Tournament Recap: USTA National Women’s Grass Court Championships
Andrea Barnes
DATES: September 23-30, 2024
LOCATION: Rancho Mirage, CA
DIVISIONS: Level 1, 30-90
The beautiful Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA hosted the “evens” USTA Level 1 Grass Court Championships from Monday, September 23 through Sunday, September 28. If there was a theme to this event it would be “adapt and adjust”.
Thank goodness it was a grass court event, as grass courts can be up to 40 degrees cooler than hard courts! Despite being on the “cooler” grass, after a brutally hot first day with several retirements and players needing medical attention, Tournament Director Ches Gibson made the decision to shorten matches by eliminating a full third set and replacing it with a super tie-breaker. In addition, the schedule was shifted to get as many matches as possible played early in the day to avoid the worst of the heat. Given that the daily highs ranged from 108 to 110 in the mid to late afternoon this too was a much appreciated adjustment. Players also appreciated the club locating large umbrellas behind each court to assure all players a bit of a shade break on side changes.
Mission Hills hosted a terrific and well attended participant dinner in their beautiful clubhouse on Wednesday evening. The tasty and bountiful buffet was highly appreciated after burning lots of calories in the hot sun. NWTO Co-President Joan Oelschlager spoke to the attendees about what the NWTO does to promote and improve tournament play opportunities for adult age group players both through sponsorship of events at national tournaments and advocacy efforts with USTA. She also reminded us that NWTO would love new players to join and more current members to get involved with the organization.
Special thanks go out to NWTO’s own Andi Polisky who was a triple threat throughout the week: working at the tournament desk, recruiting new NWTO members, and playing and winning the 80’s doubles with her partner Sharon Ploor. I’m not sure how she could do it under normal circumstances, much less in the brutal heat. Our officials also deserve a big shout out. They were out on the court all day in the hot sun too. Many thanks for all you do at every event, but especially under these conditions.
Tournament Director Ches Gibson announced at the banquet that the last day of the tournament would also be his last day at Mission Hills. I know we all appreciate all he did to make this a high quality event, particularly in light of the weather challenges. We wish Ches the best of luck in his next endeavor.
QUICK RESULTS→
🏆 W30
SINGLES: 1st Tricia Mar, 2nd Hannah Holladay
DOUBLES: 1st Hannah Holladay/Millie Yablonicky, 2nd Tricia Mar/Lin Grace
🏆 W40
SINGLES: 1st Mariko Fritz-Krockow, 2nd Jenna Boyhan, 3rd Amy Thompson
DOUBLES: 1st Isabelle Benoit/Mariko Fritz-Krockow, 2nd Kim Kouwabunpat/Juliana Copley, 3rd Jenna Boyhan/Carla Zarbo
🏆 W50
SINGLES: 1st Lindsay Montero, 2nd Joanne Price, 3rd Rochelle Whelan
DOUBLES: 1st Rochelle Whelan/Pernilla Putnik, 2nd Darice Carnaje/Valerie Tan, 3rd Carolyn Wei/Mai Ichikawa-Abel
🏆 W60
SINGLES: 1st Vicki Buholz, 2nd Jennifer Rens, 3rd Christina Kaus
DOUBLES: 1st Vicki Buholz/Jennifer Rens, 2nd Lori Robertson/Christina Kaus, 3rd Erika Smith/Judy Newman
🏆 W70
SINGLES: 1st Andrea Barnes, 2nd Tina Karwasky, 3rd Una Davis
DOUBLES: 1st Andrea Barnes/Betsy Kuhle, 2nd Tina Karwasky/Una Davis, 3rd Becky Timmis/Cindy Leprovosst
🏆 W80
SINGLES: 1st Brookes Byrd, 2nd Teri Eggers, 3rd Carolann Castell
DOUBLES: 1st Andi Polisky/Sharon Ploor, 2nd Carolann Castell/Heather Fiscalini, 3rd Brookes Byrd/Sue McCandless
FULL RESULTS HERE
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