written by: Alex Buzduga, President of Maryland Club Tennis
14 teams from 8 schools gathered at the first annual Maryland Club Tennis Fall Invitational which was held in College Park, MD. Over 110 participants competed in pool play on Saturday and then in bracket play on Sunday. All players were invited to eat bagels during the captain’s meeting and throughout Saturday morning, while tournament shirts were also given out to all the participants. There were plenty of spectators present from most schools involved, with an atmosphere which reminded of the very popular high school State Championships, which are held every year at this facility.
Pool play saw both surprises and expected wins, some in highly contested matches. Here’s the breakdown:
Pool A
Maryland Red placed 1st in the pool, with three comfortable wins. Georgetown Gray took the second spot with wins over UMBC Gold and Shippensburg B, who took 3rd and 4th places, respectively.
Pool B
Villanova A won the pool with two wins out of two matches. Maryland Black secured the second spot and access into the Gold Bracket by defeating Shippensburg A.
Pool C
Georgetown Blue won all their matches in Pool C to claim the first spot. Navy Gold dominated UMBC Black and Maryland Gold to take the second spot. Maryland Gold defeated UMBC Black to take third place.
Pool D
Villanova B made their intentions clear by defeating JMU and Navy Blue by comfortable margins. Navy Blue squeezed into the Gold Bracket after a 24-23 win over JMU, which secured them the second spot.
All the Saturday matches were finished by 5 PM, which gave all teams time to rest after having played 2 or 3 matches (depending on pool size), and to get ready for Sunday’s bracket play.
In the Gold Bracket, Maryland Red, Villanova A, Georgetown Blue and Villanova B all advanced to the semifinals with wins over Navy Blue, Navy Gold, Maryland Black and Georgetown Gray, respectively, who moved into the Gold Bracket consolation draw.There, Navy Gold took 5th place after wins over Navy Blue (28-19) and Maryland Black (28-17). Georgetown Gray and Navy Blue battled all the way for 7th place, with Georgetown coming out on top after a 23-22 win.
Villanova A beat Maryland Red in a close (23-21) match, while Georgetown Blue advanced to the final after defeating Villanova B (26-19). Maryland Red forfeited the third place match to Villanova A. Georgetown Blue capped off a great weekend with a 27-20 win over Villanova B to win the tournament.
In the Silver Bracket play-in, Shippensburg A and JMU advanced to the semifinals, while UMBC Black defeated Shippensburg B for 13th place. Maryland Gold and UMBC Gold, who were both awarded byes in the first round of bracket play, advanced to the 9th place match, with wins over Shippensburg A (27-17) and JMU (24-21) respectively. UMBC Gold swept all the sets against Maryland Gold to take 9th place in a 30-13 win. JMU then beat Shippensburg A to take 11th place in the tournament.
We thank USTA – MID ATLANTIC Maryland (Alicia Von Lossberg) and Virginia (Michelle Wood) for the time and effort that they contributed to this tournament. Besides priceless advice and liaison to sponsors, they ensured smooth score processing and prompt court assignments, so that all teams could get their matches done as quickly as possible.
WILSON was the official ball for this tournament, and their support was vital to this event. We are looking forward to a possible future collaboration.
The weather, which was perfect for tennis, along with the good organization, great competition, and good location, made this tournament a hit and one of the events your team CAN NOT MISS in Fall 08!
- Alex Buzduga, President of Maryland Club Tennis
