Intermountain / Colorado

City Park squads win USTA League National Championships

Staff Report | November 18, 2024

 

Men's and Women's Denver City Park 5.0 teams win USTA League National Championships

 

2024 has proven to be quite the year of firsts in Colorado league tennis history.. 

 

Just a few months after Colorado registered its one millionth league player, two Colorado squads captured national championships in the same weekend, in the same division. The kicker ... they both represent the same facility in Denver. 

 

After a successful USTA 18 & Over league season, the men's and women's 5.0 teams from City Park in Denver each won their respective District Championship event in June, giving them the opportunity to compete at the Sectional Championships in Utah in early August.

 

The women’s tennis team, captained by Anastassiya Zherdeva and Hailey Suyumov and featuring Allie Shafner, Kelli Woodman, Kelly Buckley, Kristen Kirby, Melissa Mang, Sarah Ray, Tabata Lua, and Wen Sun, won that event and travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona to compete in the USTA League Adult 18 & Over National Championships October 10-12, where they defeated a team from Northern California, 2-1 in the semifinals, then taking the Championship match 2-1 over a team from Houston.

 

The City Park men’s tennis team, captained by Marcus Smith and Pete Siozios and featuring Juan Carranza Novoa, Julian Seelan, Lauri Makikalli, Martin Figura, Nik Yip, Sam Ryan, and Thomas Koszowski, followed the same path, first winning their local league division, then capturing the District and Sectional Championship before competing in Scottsdale on the same weekend. City Park defeated a Northern California team, 2-1 in the semis, before downing a team from Charlotte, N.C., 2-1 in the Championship match. 

Colorado teams also finish third, fourth in National Championship league play
 

Two other local squads were oh-so-close to league glory, as the Colorado champion Mixed 18 & Over 10.0 team playing out of Gates Tennis Center (captained by Nik Yip and Anita Miner, including Brian Nelson, Amanda Johnson, David Moss, Jeffrey Kamei, Bianca Mok, Anna Riedmiller, Edwin Feeny, Jerad Harbaugh and Julia O'Loughlin) swept Missouri Valley 3-0 in the consolation bracket to finish in third place.

 

And in the 40 & Over division, the Men's 4.5 team from the Denver Tennis Park (captained by Taylor Lawton, including David Biermann, Anish Parikh, Tyler Coyle, Edwin Feeny, Matthew Dankner, Luis Fernandez, Sumant Bhat, Phillip Dankner, Benoit Guin, Brian Cox, Chris Erickson, Peter Ehrlich, and Chris Swank) fell in the consolation round 4-1 to a team from Arlington, Virginia.

 

 

Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 players in a few parts of the country in its first year to more than 300,000 players across the nation today, making it the world’s largest recreational tennis league. The 2024 calendar year was also a historic one as USTA Leagues surpassed one million registrations, the first time in the program's history.

 

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.

 

Head Penn Racquet Sports is in its 36th year as the official tennis ball of USTA League.

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