BERKELEY FINISHES SECOND AT THE 2014 USTA JUNIOR TEAM TENNIS 18U ADVANCED NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

CAYCE, S.C, October 27, 2014 – A team from Berkeley, Calif. representing the Northern California USTA Section, finished second at the 2014 USTA Junior Team Tennis 18-and-Under Advanced National Championships, held at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C. this weekend.

In the championship match, the Berkeley team fell to the USTA Texas Section team from North Richland Hills, Texas, 55-34. In the semifinals on Saturday, Berkeley beat the Southern Section team from Lexington, S.C., 48-37 to advance to the championship. The 2014 USTA Jr. Team Tennis 18-and-Under National Championships brought together the top 32 teams from various USTA Sections throughout the country.

The team is coached by Dale Evans. The team is made up of Cori Cummings, Austin Fan, Cali Fuller, Wilhelm Saiga, Lauren Wolfe and Max Yun.

“We fought hard,” said Evans. “We gave great effort and the kids played their hearts out and left everything they had on the court. We went down to a tougher team today. They had everything clicking. We also had a couple of players that were a little bit injured in the last four days of competition. We did the best we could given the stance.”

Sunday’s Advanced Final Scores

CHAMPIONSHIP: Texas (North Richland Hills, Texas) def. Nor Cal (Berkeley, Calif.), 55-34

3rd-4th: Mid-Atlantic (Virginia Beach, Va.) def. Southern (Lexington, S.C.), 56-31

5th-6th: Midwest (Columbus, Ohio) def. Mid-Atlantic (Virginia Beach, Va.), 52-39

7th-8th: Eastern (Staten Island, N.Y.) def. Missouri Valley (Oklahoma City, Ok.), 50-37

9th-10th: Midwest* (Cleveland, Ohio) def. Texas* (Houston, Texas), 60-25

11th-12th: Northern (Saint Paul, Minn.) def. Middle States (Dover, Del.), 54-20

13th-14th: Southern* (Atlanta, Ga.) def. Southwest (Albuquerque, N.M.), 59-34

15th-16th: SoCal (Temecula, Calif.) def. New England* (Guilford, Conn.), 59-37

*-Denotes wild card team

The National Championships serves as the crown jewel of USTA Junior Team Tennis as the nation’s top teams compete for the title. Each year the USTA crowns a national champion in two age divisions (14U and 18U) in both the Intermediate and Advanced play divisions. This year, there are 32 teams from across the United States who have advanced to the National Championships totaling 250 participants.

Established in 1991, USTA Junior Team Tennis provides youth with all of the health and social benefits of tennis in a co-ed, fun and competitive team environment, and allows participants to compete with and against individuals of similar skill and age levels. It promotes social skills and important values by fostering a spirit of cooperation and unity, as well as individual self-growth. USTA Junior Team Tennis is also a fun environment for kids to learn that succeeding is really more about how they play the game—win or lose.

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The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 720,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the Emirates Airline US Open Series, linking eight summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships and helps under-resourced youth and individuals with disabilities, and supports wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com, “like” the official Facebook page, facebook.com/usta, or follow @usta on Twitter.

For more information, contact:

Elizabeth McCollum, BZA PR on behalf of the USTA, (813) 421-0550, elizabethm@bzapr.com