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Women's New England team.
© Andrew Ong/USTA
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Men's Texas team.
© Andrew Ong/USTA
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By Rick Vach, USTA.com
The Plano men from the USTA Texas section and the New England section women from Manchester, Mass., were crowned national league champions this weekend at the 2009 USTA League 3.0 Senior National Championships, held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 at the Reffkin Tennis Center in Tucson, Ariz.
The Texas men defeated the USTA Missouri Valley section squad from Waterloo, Iowa, 3-0 in the final.
"We got a [teaching] pro to help us with our doubles strategy, we worked really hard," said Texas captain, Bob Bender. "We wanted it badly because it was [teammate] Rene Cuevas' birthday yesterday, and we wanted to give him the first-place trophy as a birthday present, and we were lucky to do it."
The Plano team, playing out of the Plano Tennis Center, was comprised of captain Bender, Cuevas, Juan Hidalgo, Joe Stockrahm, Daryl Barth, Ken Vichyastit and Prakash Kagal.
In the consolation match, the USTA Pacific Northeast section men out of Tacoma, Wash., defeated "locals" from the USTA Southwest section, the men from Tucson 3-0.
In the women's final the USTA New England section team from Manchester, Mass., defeated the USTA Intermountain section women from Boise, Idaho, 2-1. The New England women were comprised of Cathy Marenghi, Andree Robert, co-captain Cynthia Borghesani, Sally Kuhn, Bobby Lyman, Susan MacNeil, Paula Michaud, co-captain Carla Marsh, and Jill Hitschler.
The USTA Mid-Atlantic section women from Columbia, Md., topped the USTA Northern California section women from Walnut Creek, Calif., 2-1 to clinch 3rd place.