WTC’s Deuce Almighty Makes it to 2024 Sectionals Semifinals
Over the weekend of May 10-12, 2024, Washoe Tennis Club’s 18+ mixed 9.0 team “Deuce Almighty,” captained by Chad Twedt, went to USTA NorCal sectionals at Saint Mary’s College (Moraga, CA) and advanced to the Sunday semifinals, losing to the formidable Goldman Tennis Club (San Francisco).
There were three flights of four teams, and Washoe received a difficult draw, being placed into the same flight with the defending national champion team, Goldman Tennis Club (San Francisco). Washoe’s first match of the three-match round robin was against Goldman. Goldman proved to be just too much, defeating Washoe in a 3-0 sweep, although Laura Wade (5.0) and JC Boers (4.0) gave Goldman’s Isa Chau (5.0) and Ricky Duong (4.0) a serious run for their money, taking them to three sets in a close 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 loss.
Since four teams are required for any tournament semifinal round, but there were only three flights, the fourth place team would be determined by looking at all the second place teams in each flight, choosing the best one as determined by matches won, then sets won, then games won. With Washoe’s clean 3-0 sweeps in the following two rounds against Sierra Sport (Fresno) and Bay Club (Diablo South), this made Washoe the “best” second place team.
Unfortunately, this 4th place seeding meant that Washoe would again have to play undefeated Goldman in the semifinals, since traditional seeding places 1v4 and 2v3.
Goldman Tennis Club, captained by Jennifer Kung (5.0), has won nationals the previous two years in a row. USTA has a rule in place that forces all teams that advance to nationals to split their teams apart the next year. In a nutshell, no team may have more than three players on the same team who advanced to nationals the previous year. “One player I spoke with at sectionals said that Kung is quite the ‘recruiting connoisseur’ and knows a huge network of players, so she is able to put together consistently strong teams every year while still satisfying the split apart rule,” said Chad Twedt.
This wasn’t a complaint though, as the extraordinary level of play has motivated the 9.0 Washoe team to reach higher next year.
The weekend presented challenges beyond the usual for captains involved, because 8.0 and 9.0 mixed doubles sectionals were held on the same weekend, 90 minutes apart. The 8.0 sectionals were held in Laguna Creek, CA (southern Sacramento), while the 9.0 sectionals were held in the Bay Area (Saint Mary’s College in Moraga). Erik Gill’s 18+ mixed 8.0 team out of Reno Tennis Center had an 8-player overlap with Twedt’s team, and both teams went to sectionals. This had players driving back and forth between Sacramento and the Bay Area, sometimes multiple times during the weekend.
“Erik and I had to collaborate carefully weeks in advance to figure out how we could put out lineups without causing the other Reno team to default any lines,” Twedt said.
Making matters worse, these sectionals were held over Mother’s Day weekend, not to mention right in the middle of final exams for college students, not exactly the ideal time for tennis teams specializing in the younger 18+ age group. None of the college-age players on either team were able to play any of the Friday matches. To top it off, most sectional weekends begin with a single match on Friday and two matches on Saturday. This weekend began with two Friday matches, which meant college-age players could only play a single match on Saturday to help the team advance to semifinals.
For a complete record of Deuce Almighty’s sectionals matches, see the team’s NorCal page.
To check on the progress of our other Washoe teams currently in the heat of season battle, check the Washoe USTA page.
Pictured above from left to right (at Sunday’s semifinals): Laura Wade (5.0), JC Boers (4.0), Jennifer Pereos (4.0), Marcos Garcia (5.0), Daniela Leal (5.0), Chloe Ziegler (4.0), Preston Pegram (4.0), and Chad Twedt (4.0, captain). Not shown in the picture but also on the team: Andrew Fleming (4.0), Christie Cooley (4.5, co-captain), Christopher Jazwa (4.5), David Heldt-Werle (4.5), Elenora Twedt (4.0), Endika Berasarte (4.0), Eva Twedt (4.0), Holly Tappan (5.0), Katy Breeding (4.0), Megan Fish (4.5), Richard Salgo (4.5), and Robert Shaw (4.5).
