Friday March 31st, Houston, TX.
Today was semifinal day in the women’s 65 singles and the matches were tough as were the conditions, very windy, and shadowy. I played Leslie Murveit for the first time in four years…she has played a lot of tennis this week, particularly in doubles! I won the first set pretty routinely, 61, but Leslie played more aggressively and moved much better in the second set, and went up 4-1…I then played a bit more aggressively too, and cut down my errors, and won the set 6-4. Susan also had a topsy-turvy match, going down 4-0 to Bunnie Jackson before turning the set around and winning it 7-5 and the second set 62. We play the final at 10am tomorrow. Leslie plays Bunnie for bronze and Pat Purcell/Betsy Kuhle play for 5th
In 65 doubles, we were to play Murveit and Andrea Barnes. Andrea was playing Kuhle in the 5-8 playoff, split sets and in the first game of the third pulled a leg muscle and had to retire. She tried warming up a bit later for doubles and was unable to play so we won the doubles. Purcell/Kuhle won the bronze in a tough three-setter over Una Davis/Colleen Ferrell 75 in the third…Davis/Ferrell had two heartbreakers in a row!
Nichols/Wright/Murveit/Barnes below.
In the 85s, Roz King ended the dream run of Chris Smith, allowing her only a game in the singles final. King/Dori Devries then blanked Sheila Palmer/Carol Wood in the 85 doubles final. DeVries took the bronze in singles. Maria Markwalter/Caffey Litkenhous took bronze.
Toni Novack won the gold in the 75s, beating top seeded Gwenda Ward and avenging her loss to Ward from February. Ward absolutely demolishes the ball with her lefty forehand..Novack let her hit it as little as possible. Brenda Carter won the bronze. In doubles, Liane Bryson/Kathy Bennett overwhelmed Sue Kimball/Leslie Pixley to win gold; Ward/Carolann Castell won the bronze in three sets over Carter/Betty Wachob. Bryson/Bennett below.
The 55s are out to the final in singles and doubles. Top-seeded Charlotte Hartsock and #2 Vicki Buholz will play for gold. Hartsock beat Manola Colter and and Buholz beat Heather Herman, both in straight sets. Terri Thyssen/Laurie Capra will face Kristen Guszak/Wendy Cogan…Thyssen/Capra beat Kathy Vick/Lori Robertson and Guszak/Cogan took out Anna Zimmermann/Rainy Miller.
The 45s are also out to the final…Julie Thu beat Patricia Zerdan ret/Injury and Marissa Chapin beat Laura Ruben. In doubles, the teams are out to the semis…Guszak/Cogan (5) play Chapin/Tabatha Butler (5) and Jennifer Toney/Claudia Westbrooks (1) face unseeded Tanya O’Neil/Shannon DaVall. Laura and Carolyn below…we both grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, which is NOT a hotbed of tennis!
In the 35s, Karolina Wall ousted #2 seeded Alina Mihailescu and plays unseeded Kristen Bleakley while top seeded Kaysie Smashey will face #3 Mylene Martin. In doubles, two rounds were played today. Thu/Smashey (1) cruised through two matches; Bleakley/Vikki Dudley (5) upset #4 Martin/Erin Fleming and play DaVall/O’Neil (5)..the #2 seeds withdrew before playing a match.
There was an exhibition and food in the evening but I left earlier…and of course the lunch was great, burgers made with hamburger, roasted chicken or Portabella mushrooms (or all 3) on brioche buns (buffet style), sweet potato fries, chips, salads, cookies of course and more.