Hello from San Antonio, home of the Alamo (which I’ll someday have the time to visit!)
The play was underway for the 55s and 65s today.
55s Seeds: Southern, Northern California, Southern California and Florida. Just think…Southern has 10 states, and the next 3 seeds combine only encompass 2 states…if California had only one section, it could be a powerhouse. But I digress…
The conversation yesterday was whether Florida or Texas should be seeded 4th. The captains voted and Florida got the nod (and a very nice draw). So…SoCal (my new team..Sue Sprague, Ann Stanley, Kathy Bennett, Jackie Barr Heston, Ruth Young and Carolyn Nichols), drew Texas first round…no bye…a tough draw for sure. I played Mary Morgan and won, Ann Stanley dropped a tough, well-played match to Sue Bramlette and Sue Sprague was edged by Roxanne S (had a set point in the 2nd set, bad luck and good running by Roxanne). So it was up to the doubles….we had to win both of them. Ruth Young, playing on her first intersectional team, was thrown into a big, must win match and played great. Her lefty power and my spins worked well and we won #2 doubles over Roxanne and Connie 61 64. Meanwhile Bennett & Heston were playing Bramlette and Marold. They led 61 52, but the Texans weren’t done. Sue started hitting her wicked angles and lobs (and some good overheads) and Hilary made some nice poaches…and then it was 5-5…and the Texans won the set in a TB 7-2. On to the third set and the Californians again forged a good lead, 41…only to see it evaporate…4-4…at that point Kathy ramped up the power and Jackie set her up…SoCal won the set 64 and with it the right to advance to play Mid Atlantic, who beat Eastern…and we have a 9:30 start. NorCal won, Southern beat New England 3/2 and Florida had the day off.
65 Seeds: SoCal was the top seed and there were 5 other teams deserving of seeding….three were drawn out of a hat to be seeded, Eastern, Mid Atlantic and I think Midwest; New England and Florida were the others in contention. Midwest lost to Middle States 76 in the third set of the deciding doubles match; Florida won 3/2; Mid Atlantic had a day off.
The 75s and 80s captains’ meetings were held; Seeds in the 75s are Southern, Florida and Texas; in the 80s the seeds are Florida and Southern; play begins tomorrow.