Tennis in Pittsburgh, all of Western Pennsylvania & Wheeling, WV USTA/Middle States Section ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN DISTRICT
Promoting the great game of tennis with sanctioned tournaments, leagues and events for all ages and abilities.
It was a soldout house of more than 250 tennis patrons who paid tribute to the 2009 Middle States Hall of Fame inductees: Brian Earley, Don Johnson, Peggy Michel and Whitney Snyder. The Oct. 23 dinner at the LeMont Restaurant in Pittsburgh raised more than $20,000 for youth tennis programs in the section. For photos on this and other AMD events, click on PHOTOS in the left menu.
Two Western Pennsylvania tennis champions, Michaela Kissell and Lauren Greco, have transferred from the University of Miami. Kissell, a junior, is now at Marshall University of Conference USA where she began the fall season ranked No. 36 in the nation and compiled a 9-2 record at No. 1 singles. Greco, a sophomore, will join the Georgetown University varsity in the Big East Conference in January. Kissell was a three-time PIAA state singles champion at Greater Latrobe High School while Greco won the PIAA title for Shady Side Academy in 2007.
Shady Side Academy ace Chris Mengel from Fox Chapel will play for Duke next year, it was announced Nov. 11. Meanwhile Alison Riske from Peters Township is having no regrets at deciding to reject a full scholarship to Vanderbilt to turn pro. Mengel told tennisrecruiting.net that he was thrilled with the scholarship offer and thanked everyone from Craig Perry, his coach of eight years, to the International Tennis Academy, where Mengel spent the first half of 2009 honing his strokes. Friends, family and the staff at Pittsburgh's Shady Side Academy rounded out Mengel's thank-you list. Riske, a Pennsylvania high school state champion who reached No. 1 in the nation in Girls' 18 two years ago, was expected to attend Vanderbilt where her older sister Sarah starred. Her success on the Pro Circuits tour this summer convinced her to head straight to the pros. She then won the $50,000 purse Pro Circuit event in Troy, Alabama Oct. 5. You can follow her career at www.usta.com under "Pro Tennis."
Western Pennsylvania girls provided a standout performance at the Pennsylvania girls' tennis championships Nov. 7. The WPIAL won two of four titles, claiming the Class AAA singles and doubles titles at the Hershey Racquet Club. Latrobe's Joelle Kissell captured the Class AAA singles championship by edging defending champion Tessa Lyons of Strath Haven, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. It was an all-WPIAL matchup in Class AAA doubles, as Peters Township's Julie Stroyne and Caroline Nixon defeated Pine-Richland's Olivia Heim and Taylor Perz, 6-1, 6-3. The runners-up a season ago, Stroyne and Nixon had lost a three-set heartbreaker to Heim and Perz in the WPIAL finals last month. The WPIAL nearly claimed a third title, but Chartiers-Houston's Tanya Timko fell short of claiming her second career PIAA championship when she was defeated by Lancaster Country Day's Julia Casselbury, 6-4, 7-5, in Class AA singles.
Peters Township won its second girls team PIAA state championship in four years Oct. 31 in dramatic fashion, beating Upper St. Clair in the finals. Freshman Vida Komer and junior Emily Madalena won the key doubles match in three sets, against a USC team that had beaten them two weeks before, to secure the team championship. Peters Twp. Assistant Coach Kelle Cunningham provides an in-depth look at an incredible two weeks for the suburban Pittsburgh high school.
Brian Earley, Don Johnson, Peggy Michel and Whitney Snyder, all with ties to the Pittsburgh area, were inducted into the USTA Middle States Hall of Fame at a soldout dinner Oct. 23 at Pittsburgh's LeMont Restaqurant. Earley, a Hampton native, heads USTA's Pro Circuits. Johnson, a state high school champion from Mt. Lebanon and Erie, went on to become No. 1 in the world in doubles on the pro tour. Michel, a three-time Grand Slam winner on the pro tour, came to Pittsburgh in 1974 to play for the Pittsburgh Triangles and stayed for the next 12 years. Snyder who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Duquesne University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh has been an outstanding collegiate and high school coach and active in a number of charities.
Bjorn Fratangelo, a Pittsburgh native who has been a top national junior since he was 12, has had an incredible summer. He claimed his biggest prize to date by capturing the 16-and-under title at the USTA Boys National Clay Court Championships in Delray Beach, July 28. In August he received a wildcard bid into the U.S. Open Boys' Championship. In October he was chosen for the U.S. Open Junior Davis Cup Team and played in Mexico. Fratangelo, who grew up in Plum Borough, now trains in Naples, Florida. He was the No. 1 player on the Barron Collier High tennis team last year but will forgo high school tennis this fall to intensify his training.
University of Notre Dame sophomore Casey Watt of Gibsonia came from behind Oct. 19 to beat third-seeded Dennis Nevolo of Illinois 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, to earn a place in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Midwest Regional championship match. But with the championship on the line Monday afternoon, Watt dropped a 6-1, 7-6 (1) decision to second-seeded Moritz Baumann of Wisconsin.
It’s on to the USTA national championships in Alabama Oct. 22-25 for AMD’s 14 & Under Advanced Junior Team Tennis squad, which won the JTT sectional championship in dramatic fashion in Princeton, N.J. The AMD “Headhunters” needed to win 11 of its final 12 games in doubles to edge the defending 2008 champions from Philadelphia and win the day-long competition by a single game in the final standings. Kylie Isaacs and Peter Hazlett won their tension-filled mixed-doubles match with a championship-deciding game tie-breaker to clinch the victory. They will be joined at the USTA National Championships by teammates Megan Adamo, Adam Blasinsky, Abby Cummings, Nicole Cyterski, Callie Frey, David Mewkalo, Jonathan Perkins, and Caleb Troy.
Some 50 junior players aged 13 to 17 from Pittsburgh, Erie, Wheeling and throughout the district attended a highly successful pilot Advanced Competition Training Center (ACTC) program this summer. The Advanced CTC program is an outgrowth of the USTA-sponsored Competition Training Centers for juniors ages 10-13 that have been part of the USTA Player Development program since 1988. Thanks to Oxford Athletic Club, Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center, and Oglebay Tennis Center for graciously hosting the programs this summer. Also thanks to Gamma and Prince for donating prizes for team match-play winners.
Moments after he won the UBS Men's Futures of Pittsburgh singles title, Dennis Zivkovic thanked Dan Hackett for making it possible. "I couldn't have done it without you," Zivkovic said, thanking tournament director Hackett for giving him a wild-card entry into the USTA Professional circuit event. Zivkovic, 22, certainly made the most of it. A native of Serbia who moved to Miami when he was 7 years old, Zivkovic defeated Blake Strode, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), in the final yesterday at the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center. Zivkovic, who was a teacher at the Upper St. Clair Tennis Development Program in 2008, was the favorite of the fans. Zivkovic also won the doubles title a day earlier.
