Eglseder brothers lead Omaha 4.5 men's team to USTA League National Championships

Numerous USTA Nebraska teams are heading to the USTA League National Championships this year after winning their USTA Missouri Valley League Section Championships.

An 18 & Over 4.5 men’s team from Omaha captained by brothers Brendan Eglseder and Matt Eglseder went undefeated this past summer and will make the trip to Mobile, Ala., on Oct. 9-11 to compete at nationals. The team won its section championship on Aug. 14-16 in Springfield, Mo.

Both brothers played at Creighton Preparatory School. They have played in USTA Nebraska leagues for about five years, including men’s 4.5 and 5.0 leagues as well as mixed 9.0 and tri-level leagues.

“We grew up playing with each other, and these teams are something we enjoy playing together,” Brendan said. “My brother and I have talked for the last few years about putting together a USTA team, and this year everything seemed to come together.

“We’ve been on many other teams playing together, which is always fun. But being able to build a team and strategize and figure out lineups together has been a really cool experience.”

Matt has been to nationals twice before, both times on a tri-level team. Brendan has not been to nationals and is looking forward to his first experience. The team has weekly practices to prepare, and players are looking forward to the competition.

“There will be so many good teams in the field at nationals,” Brendan said. “We’ll give it our best shot and hopefully make it to Sunday. Either way, we’ll just enjoy the experience.”

Brendan said members of the team play in the same leagues year-round and have become good friends over the years. Most of them are comfortable playing with anyone on the team, which makes it easy to mix and match lineups to give the captains a lot of flexibility.