Photo courtesy of Tamarah Strauss.
Front row, from left: Lindsay Grant, Pelham; Elizabeth Stewart, Homewood; Tina Mills, Hoover; Stephanie Terry, Mountain Brook; Ashley Roe, Tuscaloosa. Back row, from left: Tammy Woodham, Helena; Samantha Peters, Birmingham; Marie Bateh, Hoover; Lisa Shelby, Tuscaloosa; Ashley Raggio, captain, Kingwood, Texas; Michele Morris, co-captain, Hoover; Jaimie Livingston, Vestavia Hills; Amy Sanford, Alabaster; Greg Howe, coach.
The women’s tennis team from Pelham, representing the USTA Southern Section, finished second at the USTA League Adult 18 & Over 3.5 National Championships held at the Mobile Tennis Center in Mobile.
The Pelham team lost to a team from Seattle, 3-2 in the championship match. Earlier in the day, the Pelham team defeated a team from San Francisco, 4-1 in the semifinals. They advanced this far by winning their round-robin flight contested Friday and Saturday.
The team is captained by Ashley Raggio and features Samantha Peters, Marie Bateh, Tina Mills, Amy Sanford, Lindsay Grant, Jaimie Livingston, Kristin Golden, Elizabeth Stewart, Dina Owobu, Stephanie Terry, Edith Pearson, Tammy Woodham, Sophia Watkins, Lisa Shelby and Ashley Roe and plays at the Birmingham Tennis Center.
Two of the players, Elizabeth Stewart and Jaimie Livingston, are from Homewood and Vestavia, respectively. Three players, Tina Mills, Marie Bateh and Michele Morris, are from Hoover.
Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 participants in a few parts of the country in its first year, to over 904,000 players across the nation today, making it the world’s largest recreational tennis league.
USTA League was established to provide adult recreational tennis players throughout the country with the opportunity to compete against players of similar ability levels. Players participate on teams in a league format, which is administered by the USTA through its 17 Sections.
The league groups players by using six National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) levels, ranging from 2.5 (entry) to 5.0 (advanced). USTA League is open to any USTA member 18 years of age or older.
The 2016 USTA League season will be the fourth season with the updated structure and format which offers four age categories (Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over and Adult 55 & Over and Mixed 18 & Over) to better align participants with players their own age. A fifth age division, the Mixed 40 & Over division, was added in 2014. The restructuring guarantees more frequency of play opportunities at more appropriate age groups.
Head Penn Racquet Sports is in its 29th year as official ball of USTA League.
For more information about USTA League or the USTA, visit utsa.com.
– Submitted by Tamarah Strauss.
