None of the three Richmond teams that qualified for the USTA League Nationals in their age group made it to the semifinals, but each enjoyed themselves immensely in the warm temperatures of the southwestern United States.
One Richmonder, Bryan Bostic, was fortunate enough to take part in two of the tournaments.
“It’s such a great event,” said Bostic. “Whoever came up with this team tennis approach at the USTA was brilliant because it really is extremely close. Nobody wins by blowing anybody out. It’s all close. You’re playing really good people.
“Everybody played in college for the most part. Chris Mumford played a guy that he had completely forgotten about when he was at North Carolina and the guy was at Duke. He hadn’t seen the guy in 25 years.
“Everybody takes it seriously, as far as the matches are concerned. But when it’s over, everybody is sitting around having a good time, telling old stories and having a beer. One thing leads to another, and you remember that tournament and that guy.”
Bostic was a member of the Country Club of Virginia’s men’s 40-over 4.5+ team that traveled to Indian Wells, Calif., Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
The format for that national championship was three doubles and two singles. CCV defeated New England 5-0 in its opening match, then lost to Texas 3-2 and eventual champion Middle Atlantic 4-1, finishing with a round-robin record of 1-2.
In the Texas match, one singles and one doubles came down to a third-set (10-point) tiebreaker, and CCV lost both of them.
“When we played the Middle States, it pretty much came down to you win and you’re in [the final],” said Bostic. “They were very good.”
In addition to Bostic and Mumford, other members of the team included Walton Makepeace, Garrett Horsley, Greg Williams, Kevin Beale (captain), Chris Conquest, Chris Blair, Jim Cain, Bill Carli, Clifford Foster, Stuart Horsley and Billy Tunner.
Brent Hailes didn’t make the trip. The team finished the season with a 15-2 record.
“This is a crew that still plays together on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings,” said Bostic. “We all get along really well. That helps from a teammate and teamwork standpoint. We’re all competitive but we’re competitive in the right position.
“That is let’s play hard, both on and off the court, and have a great time and enjoy our surroundings, our friendships and our families.”
Joining the CCV guys at Indian Wells was a women’s 40-over 4.5+ team that played out of Hermitage Country Club but was made up of players from around Richmond.
Laura Lafors captained the squad that also included Maggie Crosby, Jill Campbell, Sharon Dunsing, Mary Davis, Joyce Steed, Katherine Carnahan, Joy LaReau, Kristi Allabaster and Jenny Scholtz.
The Women’s 40 &Over 4.5+ Hermitage team also made it to Nationals
In the round-robin portion of the event, the Richmonders lost their opening match to eventual champion Southern California 4-1, before going on to beat Pacific Northwest 3-2 and Florida 3-2 to finish 2-1 in the tournament.
“We played well,” said Lafors. “I had been to nationals before, but it’s always a privilege to get to go and play the best from all over the country. There’s a lot of good tennis out there. Six players from my team got moved up to 5.0 [afterward] so that was painful.”
The third national championship was the mixed 40-over, 9.0 tournament in Surprise, Ariz., outside of Phoenix Nov. 21-23.
That team was composed of Julie Ogborne (captain), Ed Butterworth, Aimee (Seward) Zona, Becky Oatts, Hylah Ballowe, Bostic and Sean Reynolds. The format consisted of three doubles matches (no singles). Teams could be a combination of two 4.5s or a 5.0 and a 4.0.
On the first day, the Richmond team defeated the Southwest squad 2-1, then lost to Northern California 2-1. Northern Cal would go on to reach the final before losing to Texas. Richmond beat Pacific Northwest 2-1 on the second day and lost to Eastern 2-1.
“All of the matches were really close,” said Ogborne. “There are no easy teams out there.”
Butterworth and Zona (Ed’s sister-in-law) didn’t lose a match, going 4-0 for the weekend.
“The toughest part is making it to nationals,” said Ogborne. “We had a lot of drama at sectionals. It came down to the last match. You win it in a close one, and it’s so exciting just to make it out there. Everybody’s good. It’s a special experience. We enjoyed it.”
In the Mid-Atlantic sectionals, the Richmonders had to play Maryland twice. They lost the first day 2-1 and beat them 2-1 the second day. It came down to counting sets lost (not won) in the matches to determine the national qualifier.
Ogborne was also involved in the National 45-over Intersectionals the previous week in San Antonio, Tex., as the captain of the Mid-Atlantic ladies squad. She was joined by Mary Davis, Alicia Wise and Andrea Rice (Maryland) for the event.
Because of inclement weather, the final between Mid-Atlantic and Southern California could not be played, and the teams were declared co-champions.
“Usually, we have Kirsten Elim and Rachel Gale and Leslie Butterworth on the team but they couldn’t make it this year,” said Ogborne. “So we had a smaller roster and we ended up having a nice tournament.”