A toast to ‘Serve Me Wine’ as 40+ women’s team captures district title

Local teams fought hard during their USTA Missouri District Championship matches, but only a handful can advance to the USTA Missouri Valley League Section Championships. For a 40 & Over 3.5 women’s team named “Serve Me Wine” captained by Donna Hoffmann, a well-deserved district win propels the team to the section championships in Oklahoma.

Hoffmann’s team has competed numerous times at districts but has not made it beyond that point until now. The team’s unique dynamic and new milestone win has the group pumped as they prepare for the next set of challenging matches. The squad will compete in the section championships on Aug. 23-25 at LaFortune Tennis Center in Tulsa.

“Our Serve Me Wine team is probably not your ordinary team,” Hoffmann said. “After participating in several districts and losing to Springfield, winning in 2024 is really exciting.”

The team was established in 2019, starting as an 18 & Over squad in Columbia. The team transitioned to 40 & Over in 2022. The group’s love for tennis and remarkable team spirit brought the ladies together.

“We have a unique group of players which represent five different locations: Columbia, Fulton, Jefferson City, Osage Beach and Versailles,” Hoffmann said. “Our ages cover four different decades. We have three in their 40s, four in their 50s, four in their 60s and three in their 70s.”

Because everyone on the team has a mix-and-match schedule, it can be difficult to find time to practice together. However, Serve Me Wine has discovered a practice system that allows individuals to get some quality hitting in, and their hard work and dedication has certainly paid off.

“Practice as a whole team is non-existent, but we all play against other players in our areas,” Hoffmann said. “Everyone is willing to do what is best for the team, which showed by winning our league 6-0.”

As the group trains for the section championships, they have come to realize their conflicting schedules will affect their match days as well. It is difficult to arrange efficient travel plans and match dates for an entire team, as most players are balancing other summer engagements and responsibilities. A few Serve Me Wine players will be unable to participate in the section championships, but the crew is adapting and keeping their spirits sky high.

“It is often hard to have nine available players for a match while juggling jobs, family activities or vacations,” Hoffmann said. “We have several who will be unable to go to Tulsa because of prior commitments. It will be hard not to have these players with us, but we are excited to represent our Missouri District.”

Check out a USTA Missouri feature story on Donna Hoffmann—who broke gender stereotypes by playing and teaching sports before the passage of Title IX—by clicking here.