Thanks to Vanderbilt’s Gonzales Austin, Marie Casares and
Courtney Colton, ‘Dores tennis took home plenty of championship
hardware on Finals Sunday at the TVOC tennis tourney at Manker Patten.
Casares won the women’s open singles title and teamed with
Colton to defeat UTC’s Kayla Jones-Kelsey Coots for the women’s open doubles.
Austin and Colton won the mixed open against UTC’s Pavels Grigorjevs-Samantha
Caswell, while Austin took second in the open singles and doubles.
“This is a great tournament and we (Vanderbilt players) will
be back next year,” said Austin who earned All-American honors in singles and
doubles last month.
Austin was 11-2 in matches this week and has more tennis on
his schedule this summer.
“I’ll play a Futures tournament in Rochester (NY) and
Pittsburgh before attending the second semester of summer school.”
Casares, who also won the 2013 women’s doubles with UTC’s
Kayla Jones, heads back to Nashville where she is working an internship in civil
engineering this summer.
Austin lost to incoming Georgia freshman Wayne Montgomery in
a three-set singles final and he and Elliott Orkin dropped the men’s doubles
final to Carl Abalos and Salif Kante.
Vandy Record: The ‘Dores trio was an impressive combined 28-4
in all matches with Colton (9-1), Casares (8-1) and Austin (11-2). In sets won
and lost the threesome was 57-10 … and the Vandy women’s head coach Geoff
McDonald was runner-up in the men’s 55 singles.
No.1 vs. No.2 … the top two seeds met in the finals five
times with the top seed winning three of five … Overall, the top seeds won six
titles, No.2 won three, No.3 won once and an unseeded duo (Carl Abalos-Salif
Kante in men’s open doubles) won once.
Kudos: once again players gave a thumbs up to all who made
the tournament run smoothly and enjoyable to play in … tournament director Ned
Caswell, head official Richard Rogers and his staff and Mary Cook running an efficient
head table and all the workers who prepared the courts for each match and those
who kept plenty of food available for players.
Double Winners:
Marie Casares (women’s open singles and doubles) … Ken
Koelling (45s and 55s men’s doubles) …
2014 Sunday Finals
* Men’s 35s Doubles
(2) Richard Johnson def. Bayly Taff, 6-3, 6-1
* Men’s 45s Doubles
(1) Wesley Cash-Ken Koelling def. (2) Ned Caswell-Robert
Evans, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6
* Men’s 55s Singles
(3) Hank Ream def. Geoff McDonald, 4-6, 6-2, 10-5
* Men’s 55s Doubles
(1) Ken
Koelling-Scott Shepherd def. (2) Robert Fisher-Daryl Massengill, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
* Men’s 65s Singles
(1) Marc Anthony def. (2) Dennis Strickler, 6-4, 6-2
* Men’s 65s Doubles
(2) Chuck Maland-Dennis Strickler def. (1) Chris Brown-Clive
Kileff, 6-4, 6-4
* Men’s 75s Singles
Jack Myers def. Don Smith, 6-3, 6-1
* Men’s 75s Doubles
Finals: Darrell McDonald-Don Smith def. Lamar Hooker-Ken
Nelson, 7-5, 6-2
(Note: McDonald-Smith rallied in both sets to win … they
trailed 5-2 in the first and 4-1 in the second set before winning in straight
sets.)
* Women’s 45s Doubles
Susan Bevil-Caroline Bentley def. Maria Iarossi-Kelly
Matone, 7-5, 6-3
* Women’s 55s Doubles
Nancy Miller-Carol Smedley def. Janice Forsyth-R Stimson,
6-3, 6-1
* Mixed 45s Doubles
Champions: Mike Parker-Sue Bartlett
Parker-Bartlett def. Cynthia Jones-Randy Stephens, 6-3, 6-0
Parker-Bartlett def. Karl Gifford-Linda Hancock def. 6-3, 6-3
Cynthia Jones-Randy Stephens def. Karl Gifford-Linda
Hancock, 6-1, 0-6, 10-6
* Mixed 55s Doubles
Finals: Cynthia Jones-Randy Stephens def. Carol
Smedley-James Smedley, 6-1, 6-4
* Mixed 65s Doubles
Judith Siracusa-Pat Siracusa def. Deborah Wilhelm-Wayne
Wilhelm, 6-1, 6-0
* Men’s Open Singles
(2) Wayne Montgomery
def. (1) Gonzales Austin, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
* Men’s Open Doubles
Carl Abalos-Salif Kante def. (1) Elliott Orkin-Gonzales
Austin, 6-1, 6-2
* Women’s Open Singles
(1) Marie Casares def. (4) Natalia Maynetto, 6-0, 6-2
* Women’s Open Doubles
(1) Marie Casares-Courtney Colton def. Kayla Jones-Kelsey
Coots, 6-4, 6-4
* Mixed Open Doubles
(1) Gonzales Austin-Courtney Colton def. Pavels Grigorjevs-Samantha Caswell, 6-1, 6-3
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net