ORLANDO, FL- Throughout the month of November, four New England teams lived out their ultimate Junior Team Tennis fantasy by competing in Orlando at the National Championships. MadRackets, from Madison Racquet Club in Madison, CT, New England Tennis Center in Lancaster, MA, Edgewood Pool and Tennis Club in Raynham, MA, and OOF, from Bedford, NH, represented New England at USTA’s National Campus from November 2-4 (14U) and 9-11 (18U). 

Each New England team competed against 15 teams from other USTA Sections. Teams first were placed in flights, and from there, earned their way into playoff brackets. 

To earn their Nationals berth, New England teams won their respective Sectional Championship in August at Smith and Amherst Colleges.  

New England teams had arguably the most difficult draws at Nationals, matching up against all four National Champions as well as fifth-place bracket winners in flight play. ADVERTISEMENT USTA Texas teams took home three titles (18U Advanced, 14U Advanced & Intermediate) while USTA Northern won in the 18U Intermediate division. 

Here are the New England results: 

Edgewood Pool and Tennis Club- 18U Advanced

Edgewood finished third in flight play and 10th overall. The club compiled a game total of 112-133 while going 1-2 overall in three matches. 

Alex Finkelstein went unbeaten for Edgewood in flight play, earning singles victories against Texas and Caribbean. He also won one match in boys’ doubles and two in mixed, partnering with Ben Simmons and Leanne Kendall respectively. Trevor Schwarzmann picked up Edgewood’s final individual match win, defeating Northern California.  

In the ninth-place playoff bracket, New England defeated Hawaii and fell to Mid-Atlantic. 

Edgewood was coached by Fil Miguel and featured: Alex Finkelstein, Ben Simmons, Brooklyn Bindas, Callie Smith, Erin Regnier, Leanne Kendall, Luke Nickerson, Trevor Schwarzmann and Tyler DiPalma.

New England Tennis Center- 14U Intermediate 

New England Tennis Center (NETC) finished third in its flight as well but came up one spot behind Edgewood to take 11th place. NETC won 119 total games and finished with a 1-2 flight record. Their flight win came against Southern California, where they took four of five positions. 

Every member of the Nationals team won at least one individual match in during flight play in singles, doubles or mixed. 

In the ninth-place playoff bracket, NETC lost to Pacific Northwest in the first round but bounced back to beat Middle States to take 11th. 

NETC was coached by Ryan Holmes and featured: Ben Grace, Connor Liona, Emma Hakala, Grace Versaggi, Kennedy Alexis, Kristen Su and Stone Shen.

MadRackets- 14U Advanced

MadRackets finished fourth in flight play and 13th overall. The team went 0-3 in flight play, with their four individual wins coming in singles from Ava Esposito and Sebastien Lowy, who had two each. 

MadRackets turned it up in the 13th-place playoff bracket, as they defeated both Northern and Pacific Northwest. Espositio went 2-0 in singles in the playoff, while Lowy went 1-1. The girls duo of Bella Vejar and Claire Langille helped Madrackets to victory against PNW with a 6-3, 6-0 win.  

MadRackets was coached by Rick Fay and featured: Andrew Sack, Ava Esposito, Breanna DiBello, Claire Langille, Elliott Booth, Isabella Vejar, Sebastien Lowy and Will De Chabert.

OOF- 18U Advanced

OOF finished fourth in flight play and 16th overall. The team went 89-164 in games, taking two individual positions in flight play, both against USTA Eastern. Miranda Shilling earned the girls singles point while the pair of Carly Citron and Nick Schlapak won at the mixed spot. 

In the 13th-place playoff bracket, New England got individual wins from the teams of Zach Suozzo/Nicholas Bayer, Carly Citron/Shu Grosso and Nicholas Bayer/Nick Schlapak, but fell to Caribbean and Southern in the process. 

OOF was coached by Zach Suozzo and Jana Suozzo and featured: Carley Citron, Liam Grennon, Miranda Shilling, Nicholas Bayer, Nick Schlapak, Shu Grosso and Taylor Suozzo.

For complete results from JTT Nationals, click here.