Monday, Nov. 02, 2009

Team play nets locals senior USTA championship

By Rocky Morrow, Herald staff writer

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.-- The Columbia Basin Racquet Club 3.5 Senior Women's team swept Brownsville, Texas, 3-0 on Oct. 25 to finish 3-0 in championship play and earn the first United States Tennis Association title for a Pacific Northwest 3.5 women's senior team.

The group beat both Northern (Bloomington, Minnesota) and Middle States (Philadelphia) opponents 2-1 and Missouri Valley (Overland Parks, Kansas) 3-0 in flight 2 play en route to a 3-0 sweep of New England (Portland, Maine) in the semifinals.

"The whole team was dedicated and so intense and so competitive, we didn't have one star," team captain Judy Baston said.

"Everybody did what they had to do to win the match. There's different ways of playing, but these girls could play anybody. They changed their styles, they changed their gameplan, did whatever they had to do to pull out the win."

Team co-captain Lea Hawkins said that the only surprise for her was the relative ease with which the team progressed to the championship.

"We won more easily than I thought we would," Hawkins said. "It was harder playing at sectionals at Sunriver in June."

Team member Suzanne Heaston said that the main challenge was strategy not strength.

"I got off the court more mentally tired than physically," Heaston said. "The greatest achievement for our team was the ability to adjust.

"More than anything, you had to take risks, had to play to win."

Baston credited former CBRC pro T. Khounnala with helping to shape the team's on-court mutability in sessions held at CBRC in the winter months and at Richland High School in the summertime.

"Strategy and promoting us to hit winning shots," Baston said of Khounnala's coaching plan. "He taught us not just to return the ball, but to hit winning shots, to go for winners. Wonderful help to us; he's a real good pro."

CBRC head pro Bill Fletcher said he couldn't be more pleased with the outcome, adding believes that the team's success is a point of pride not only for the team and the racquet club but also the entire region.

"They represented the northwest very well, themselves and the club for sure."

Team roster: Judy Baston (captain), Pat Brulotte, Lisa Crow, Susan Fitzcharles, Lea Hawkins (co-captain), Suzanne Heaston, Sue Martell, Yukiko Toyooka and Nancy Watts.