The mixed doubles portion of the SMARTBOX VA State Indoor Championships was held October 28-29 at The Country Club of Virginia.  

Normally a Spring event, a scheduling conflict prevented the club from hosting the tournament at that time. The tournament was initially set for October 21-22, but several teams withdrew at the last minute, forcing the tournament committee to postpone the championship to the following weekend.

Bryan Bostic, CEO of SMARTBOX, the tournament sponsor, said that the event drew less players than anticipated, but that is to be expected this time of year.  "Virgnia Tech and UVA have very loyal fans who attend all the football games.  When you hold a tournament like this it only takes a few of the top rated players to be gone to notice."

The Mixed Doubles Championships began as part of the Virginia State Indoor Championships  held the first weekend in December.  Because of the large draws in singles and men's and women's doubles, the mixed event was separated and scheduled at another time.  SMARTBOX is the sponsor for both tournaments held at CCV.

Player amenities at the SMARTBOX tournaments are very popular.  Participants receive a gift basket and a player's party and drinks and snacks throughout the tournament.

"The player's gifts are amazing," said Mason Davis, who attends Longwood University, where she plays on the school's tennis team.  "I can't wait to get this [the player's gift basket] home to dig through it."

Bostic said he was pleased with the tournament committee's decision to move the 2007 Mixed Doubles event back to the Spring, but that "as a sponsor, I don't really get involved in the committee's decisions and I don't need to, since they do such an outstanding job."

The champions, Julie Kaczmarek and Carl Clark, split $1,000 with their tight victory over Scott Steinour and Margie Walsh 7-6 (2), 6-4.   Steinour/Walsh split $500 and the semifinalists received $250. 

Walsh and Steinour fought a hard contest in the semis just prior to their final against Kaczmarek and Clark. That match went to a third set against Ellen Markowitz and Charles (Walton) Makepeace who were playing together for the first time.  Markowitz, who recently moved to Charlottesville from New York to attend graduate school, and Makepeace upset the #2 seeded Rachel Gale/Miles Sheldon team in two sets on Saturday.

Kaczmarek and Clark had a little bit more time between their semi-final and final matches, with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Mason Davis and Chris Blair.  Mason  grew up playing at CCV, and was a student of Clark's.  Carl said that he used angles and spin and varied his shots against his former student.  "There are other things you can do when playing," (rather than blasting away) he commented.  

Former City Champion Betty Gustafson (who just recently celebrated her 80th birthday, congrats!) said that when women sign up for mixed doubles events they better be ready for the hard shots.  "When there's money on the line, things change," she said.  "And, I always found it insulting if a man didn't hit it hard at me.  I would ask him, 'is that all you've got?'  That was all it took.  Although, 40 years ago, we were all using wood racquets so nobody hit it as hard as they do now."

Semi-Finalists Ellen Markowitz and Walton Makepeace

from left:  Carl Clark, Julie Kaczmarek, Margie Walsh and Scott Steinour.  Clark and Kaczmarek claimed the title  7-6(2), 6-4.