One gold ball wasn’t enough for the singles winner at the 60-80 clay courts in Huntsville on April 20th. They wanted two and earned them. Brenda Carter won a “double-double” in the 60s for the third straight time, teaming with Betty Wachob to win the doubles over the unseeded duo of Carol (Propstra) Gay and Liane Bryson, and winning the singles over Wachob in 3 sets.
The match of the tournament, at least for doubles was probably the first round encounter of Sheila Johnson/Janet Watanabe and Carter/Wachob. The former led a set and 5-1 before the top seeds rallied to force a tiebreaker, which they won. Johnson/Watanabe also led in the final set and had one match point before falling in the tiebreaker.
Carol Clay/Ellen Goodman finished third; Judy Louie took the bronze over Clay in three sets.
Dorothy Matthiessen continued her unbeaten streak in the 70s, beating Burnett Herrick (who had a fine clay tournament, reaching the final for the first time on clay), and combining with Boots Van Nostrand to take the doubles title over Kathy Langer/Lyn Tietz. Kathy Langer wins the comeback player of the year…she was down a set and 5-1 to Dori deVries, the 2nd seed, and also down 3-0 in the third but rallied to win the match (Dori took fifth) and finished 3rd in the tournament over Roz King. King took out two seeds en route to the semis, Carol Wood in the round of 16 and Inge Weber of Canada in the quarters.
Matthiessen/Van Nostrand edged the 2nd seeds, Langer/Lyn Tietz in a tough 3 setter in the final. Roz King/Nancy Reed placed third.
In the 80s, Irene Shepard won the singles in 3 sets over Betty Eisenstein, and combined with Marilyn Skiffington to win the doubles over the top seeds, Rita Price/Marian Tyrell. They beat the top 2 seeds to do it and I believe it is Marilyn’s first gold ball! Piyachart Hussey/Dorothy Knode placed third in doubles; Price took the bronze in singles.