The Davenport City Tournament

5/28/07: The great thing about playing in the City Tournament at Byrd Park is that you are in the middle of all the action. The bad thing about playing in the City Tournament at Byrd Park is that you are -- in the middle of all the action. Fire trucks, police cars, motorcycle brigades. And the ice cream truck. Especially the ice cream truck.

"Hello! Hello!" says a woman's voice from the loudspeaker. Then a loud rendition of a musical tune obviously purposely selected for its ability to annoy. Juniors: If you can serve through that, you are ready for anything.

Memorial Day was another perfect day for tennis. Edgar Vitkovski and Corey Pegram reprised their match-up from last years final in Boys 16s. Edgar is energetic and seems to enjoy playing for the spectators; Corey is quiet and appears unaware that there is anybody watching. Edgar won the first set, and was up in the second when he fell on his elbow. Corey recognized his opportunity and took the second set. During the mandatory 10 minute break before the third set, Edgar was hardly reflecting on his upcoming tiebreaker. As I snapped pictures of other players, Edgar found a way into every shot. Not that anybody seemed to mind. Corey came out fully focused and won the third set easily.

In Girls 14s, Abbie Pahz "played patient, and then went for my shots," she said, flushed and excited from her won over Christine Abbott. Christine and Abbie had a match that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes, that was full of arching topspin lobs that hit the baseline repeatedly. At one point, Abbie was completely flustered as the third ball in a row bounced off the line, forcing her back to the fence. She overcome her frustration and beat the second seeded Abbott in a tiebreak without allowing a point. It was the first time Pahz had beaten Abbott in several match-ups. Pahz, only 11, is currently training with Romain Ambert.

Dylan Moon stopped Eric Smith in the semifinals. "I was up 5-2 in the first set," said Dylan, "then he got to 5-4 before I realized I needed to focus and win it." Moon won the second set 6-2. His next stop was Collegiate teammate Max Schnur in the Final. Schnur, an 8th grader, just turned 14 this year. He plays #2 at Collegiate. Moon plays #4. "I knew what I was in for [playing Max]," said Dylan. "I had nothing to lose so I just hit out. Usually I can count on my forehand, but it wasn't working today."

Schnur won the Boys 16s Final handily, 6-0. 6-1. Max was up front about his strategy for the Final. "I had two exams today, Latin and History, so I couldn't think about tennis. Then I went home and took a nap. On the way to the match, I listened to Classic Rock." This is only his third tournament playing up in the 16s.

Connor Garyotis has been training with John DiNardi. The thirteen year old attends Swift Creek Middle School, where he ran the 2 mile and 4X400 relay on the school's track team. He had only played Shyam Venkatasubramanian once before in a tournament; Shyam won that match in the third set. Connor and Shyam were playing in this years' title match. Connor said his goal in the Boys 14s Final: "Play consistent."

Garyotis and Venkatasubramanian took awhile to even it at 3-all in the first set, then Connor just found a groove and stayed in it. "I played consistently, and after awhile he just missed. I used short balls to come to the net, and then just stayed there," said Connor.

"He hit some amazing points past me, but [my game plan] worked." Connor's goal is to be in the Top 40 in boys 14s before he turns 14, and in the top 100 in boys 16s by the end of this year.

Shyam is only 11, but he is top 6 in MATA in boys 12s. His favorite match in the tournament? His semifinal with Mark Breidenbaugh. Shyam said his goal in that match was to "stay consistent and finish points when I had an opportunity." Mission Accomplished, -the result: a 6-0, 6-0 win over the #1 seed.

The final match of the tournament saw Callie Whitlock defeat Abbie Pahz 6-2, 6-2. Whitlock has been training with Renee Blount for a couple of years now. The new Girls 14s City Champion made it her goal when she was named the top seed, to "make it all the way."

"I work a lot on my serve, and have been focusing on my second serve," she said. Her strategy was to "Keep getting the ball back," she said. "I didn't want to be the first one to miss."

Callie praised her younger opponent. "She's a good player! She can run down a lot of balls."

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Junior City Championships this year. Thanks to Davenport & Co. for sponsoring the tournament, our volunteers, our excellent local USTA officials, the players for competing, and their parents- who made sure the players showed up on time.

There are many, many, tournaments which players can choose to play. Thank you very much for playing in the Junior City Tournament. Keep working on your game, and we'll see you next year!

Boys 10s Champion: Tate Steinour
Finalist, Grayson Brown

Tate Steinour (left) won the City Championship title in the Boys 10s L6. He is a 3rd grader at JB Watkins Elementary. Grayson Brown attends Twin Hickory and trains at Raintree. Tate gets some help from his Dad, Scott, at Salisbury.

Girls 10s Champion: Elizabeth Dudley
Finalist, Ellie White

Elizabeth Dudley (right) is our new City Champion in the Girls 10s L6 Division. She is in the 4th grade at Short Pump ES. Ellie is in the 4th grade at Collegiate.

Boys 12s Champion: Nicholas Smith
Finalist, Alexander Burleigh

Elizabeth Dudley (right) is our new City Champion in the Girls 10s L6 Division. She is in the 4th grade at Short Pump ES. Ellie is in the 4th grade at Collegiate.

Girls 12s Champion: Becca Kapsak
Finalist, Haylee Seidenberg

In the Girls 12s L6, Becca Kapsak (right) claimed the City Championship with a very tight three set win over Finalist Haylee Seidenberg 6-3, 4-6, 10-8.

Girls 14s Champion: Logan Eldridge
Finalist, Ankita Sridhar

Logan Eldridge (right) with Ankita Sridhar.

Boys 14s Champion: Anthony Palesis
Finalist, Sam Howard

Girls 16s Champion: Keyshera Jackson
Finalist, Virginia Nelson

In the Girls 16s L6 Round Robin, Keyshera Jackson (right) was undefeated. Jackson attends Hermitage HS, where she is in the 9th grade. She is also a cheerleader at the school. Keyshera trains with John DiNardi at U-Turn.
Virginia is in the 11th grade at Freeman HS. She previously played on the Lacrosse team, and has been playing tennis for a couple of years. She trains at Westwood.

Boys 16s Champion: Moss Levenson
Finalist, Chris James

In the L6 Boys 16s, Moss Levenson (left) claimed the title of City Champ. He attends Godwin HS and is a rising 10th grader. Moss trains at Raintree. Chris James attends Midlothian HS and trains at Robious & Willow Oaks.

For complete scores of all matches, visit the USTA website

by Sara James