65 & Over Women’s Team Reaches Nationals for 7th Time in 9 Years

“We’ve been fortunate enough to have done this before. We did not get to go last year, so we really wanted to go this year,” Albrecht said. “It was a very tough tournament. We felt very fortunate. We always have a good time. Everybody is really friendly. It’s always a lot of fun.”

Albrecht’s side began the USTA Missouri Valley 65s Invitational with a 3-0 victory over USTA Oklahoma’s wild-card entry. Next, USTA St. Louis defeated a USTA Missouri team by a 2-1 margin. That set up a winner-take-all match against USTA Oklahoma with a berth to nationals in the balance. USTA Oklahoma was USTA Missouri Valley’s representative at nationals in 2022, denying USTA St. Louis that opportunity.

“We knew they were really good,” Albrecht said. “When we got that last point in the tiebreaker, I just kind of leaped for joy. It was a great moment. We were short a couple of our good players and weren’t sure we could pull it off. It was just awesome. We were really excited.”

Prior to the penultimate matchup, Albrecht sensed she needed to mix up her lineup. She made a calculated gamble, putting two ladies on Court 1 who hadn’t played together before. She flip-flopped her pairings on Courts 2 and 3 as well. The maneuvers paid off, as her top-two doubles teams won their respective matches to secure the 2-1 win over USTA Oklahoma.

“I have got an awesome group of teammates,” Albrecht said. “Everybody works together. Everybody supports each other. Everybody supports me. I feel very honored to get to be their captain. It’s really a privilege to lead the group and make sure everybody has a good time, gets some exercise and makes new friends.

“I enjoy doing it. I like putting all the pieces of a puzzle together to put together a team. Everybody brings different things to the team — different qualities, different characteristics. Pulling that whole group of people together into something you can accomplish as a group is a fun thing to do.”

Albrecht said one of the team members retired and moved to Florida several years ago but returns to St. Louis to continue playing on the squad. Another member is dealing with shoulder issues but is hard at work rehabbing with the intent of competing at nationals. And Albrecht’s doubles partner is also attending physical therapy to get healthy for nationals.

Albrecht’s husband, Peter — who likewise captains several USTA St. Louis teams — is also critical to the 6.0 women’s team’s ongoing success.

“He has always been very supportive of my tennis and the teams I captain,” Albrecht said. “I can always count on him to be our team gofer when we head to further competition. He gets us to the courts, hits with us, critiques us, checks out our opponents, takes pictures, makes dinner reservations and carries my bag — what a guy!”

In addition to her 65+ 6.0 women’s team, Albrecht captains teams at the 18+, 40+ and 55+ levels. After living in St. Louis, moving away and then coming back to the city in 1999, Albrecht started her captaining journey in 2002. She has played with some of her current teammates for several years and said “some of these girls are becoming lifelong friends almost.”

Which will make what happens post-nationals supremely challenging. USTA instituted a new rule that 65+ squads qualifying for nationals are required to level up or split up, with 50 percent of the team allowed to play together the following year. After a nine-year run with the core of the same group intact, Albrecht said she’ll have perhaps “my most challenging task as a team captain” in 2024.

But for now, Albrecht and her crew are looking forward to competing in the USTA 65 & Over National Invitational for the seventh time in nine years. Most of the team will arrive in Surprise a few days early to prep for the outdoor tournament. The group is gunning to make at least the semifinals for the first time ever.

“We’ve been one match short or a few courts shorts,” Albrecht said. “Especially in the beginning, we didn’t really have a good handle on what we needed to do. We had fun, but we didn’t do particularly great. The last couple times we’ve gone, we’ve been close. We’re hoping for the best this year, because we’re not getting any younger. We’re not sure how much longer we’re going to be lucky enough to get to do this.”