SMARTBOX 2007 Indoor Hardcourt Championships

"Nataly's experience won it," said Mary Murphy, who hasn't missed a hardcourt championship at CCV for the 12 years it's been held at the club. "She's a laser beam when she figures the other player out. Olga had it, then she just disintegrated."

"She has placement, consistency and mental toughness," said Kirsten Elim, who played Fleishman and Gale in the doubles final with partner Julie Ogborne.

The Women's Doubles final saw a similar result with Fleishman/Gale defeating Elim/Ogborne 7-5, 6-1.

"Nataly and I have had a great chemistry together ever since we first started playing with each other a couple years ago," said Rachel Gale, who is the Administrative Director of Racquet Sports at Westwood Club. "She is very steady and I like to go for my shots. It makes a great combination."

Gale credited Ogborne and Elim for giving a tough fight. "I have been playing against them for many years now...they are a very steady team with excellent fundamentals. Their strength is consistency and they both have great hands at the net."

This was Gale's fifth Doubles Title here. She and partner Natalie Fleishman claimed the titles in 2004 and 2005, and Gale and Kaczmarek won it in 2002, 2003 and 2006. Fleishman had her first child in the fall of 2006 and was not entered in either singles or doubles last year.

Gale, who sat out the Davenport City Singles Championship this past May after claiming the singles, doubles and mixed title the previous year, hasn't played tournament level singles much at all in 2007. Rachel took down the #3 seed Ashlee Vosters 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Vosters was a singles finalist here in 2006.

"It was a great tournament for me in Singles. It's been a few years since I played well in singles. and this was only the second tournament where I've played singles all year," said Gale. "I wasn't planning to play singles this year but Julie (Ogborne, the tournament director) called me and wanted me to sign up for singles. I told her it would depend on how I did at Nationals in Naples in November. I had a 3-1 record there on clay so I decided to go ahead and give the State Indoor a try. Thank you Julie!"

Romain Ambert (left) and Steven Kane
Ambert def. Kane in the Singles Final 6-3, 6-2

Another person was thankful for Ogborne's persistence. Romain Ambert, an Assistant Coach at VCU, and winner of the 2006 Singles title, had planned to sit out the tournament following an injury three weeks ago.

"Two weeks ago, I could not sleep," he told Times-Dispatch reporter John Packett. "I could not cough. I could not sneeze. I could not laugh. I could not do anything." Ambert withdrew from the event and asked one of his VCU players to step in to play in his place.

When that player came up injured, Ambert found himself in a pickle. Tournaments like this, with lots of money on the table (SMARTBOX puts up thousands to hold the event), need the participation of top players. "Because of the kindness of Julie, I just go play and make sure she has enough people in the draw." Ambert ended up taking home a check for $1,250.

Ambert was able to work in a little practice the week prior when he competed on clay in the Willow Oaks men's member-guest tournament. (He and his partner finished first - surprise). But he wasn't able to practice hard to prepare like the year before. His semi-final match with Trevor Spracklin went three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, which was a great improvement for Spracklin. Spracklin lost to Ambert 6-1, 6-1 last year.

"Ambert's a workhouse," said Spracklin.

In the Men's Final, Ambert met Steven Kane, who played at William & Mary a couple years after Spracklin graduated there. "I recruited him a lot when I was in college," Spracklin explained. "I knew him from seeing him in tournaments in Florida. He played some pro level events in high school."

Kane graduated from W&M this spring and plans to attend Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia starting in August. He collected a total of $750 in earnings for school fees - $500 for the singles final and $250 for making it to the doubles final with Ambert

On Wednesday, Ambert was sporting a long compression type sleeve on his right arm. Afterwards, he said that his arm was bothering him and he was keeping the sleeve on for warmth. Also, he said as he pointed to his head - "for mental reasons, too."