On Oct. 24, the Bucks County Tennis Association hosted its Fall Team Tennis Challenge, bringing together 55 countywide program participants who were recommended by their coaches to Council Rock North High School tennis courts for friendly competition, with many playing in a tennis competition for the first time.
While the day started out and ended sunny for the Little Aces Age Division, athletes in the Juniors and Teens/Adults divisions ultimately battled the bad weather – swinging in the rain – as no one wanted to stop playing.
Little Aces Age Division: The Wasps (from Lower Bucks sites) defeated the Ghosts (from Upper Bucks sites) in a closely contested total of games, 312-306, after five rounds of doubles matches and a 30-point bonus round for team singles, but it was just not enough to overcome the Tigers’ lead.
Juniors Age Division: After seven rounds of play, the Tigers (from Lower Bucks sites) defeated the Phantoms (from Upper Bucks sites) by a 383-378 total game score. The Phantoms won the 30-point team singles bonus, however it was not quite enough to overcome the Tigers’ lead.
Teens/Adults Age Division: The South team defeated the North team after seven rounds of doubles and singles play, and lots of great rallies.
“The athletes all exhibited great sportsmanship and team spirit, as revealed by their perseverance with the weather,” said BCTA program director Laura Canfield.
Athletes were awarded their respective gold and silver medals, as well as sportsmanship awards.
Little Aces Team Rosters
Wasps: Scott Bitting, Advik Chandola, Grace Holton, Cooper Kelso, Angelina Merksamer, Bernadette Merksamer, Clara Merksamer, Sam Tier, Navya Tikku, Juliana Watkins
Ghosts: Amryna Bajwa, Ethan Escoto, Gabrielle Gardner, Justin Huang, Quinn Larson, Annika Racharla, Kara Stribling, Taylor Wisniewski, Emily Zhang
Juniors Team Rosters
Tigers: Adam Alaoui, Aidan Bunnell, Fiona Bunnell, Chip Caro, Abby Clark, Lily Esmay, Francesca Forsyth, Shiv Patel, Kaitlynn Pino, Aden Pitkis, Lauren Studenmeier, Nirvan Tikku
Phantoms: Grace Byrne, Olivia Cabrera, Keira Check, Bianca Cinquino, Matthew Eberhardt, Eric Escoto, Asher Kieschnick, David Mandel, Sunniva Pacelli, Aayush Patel, Anna Ries
Teens/Adults Team Rosters
South: Ron Assulin, Eric Chen, Kathan Desai, Mereck Epperson, Ethan Flannery, Noah Lutz, Vincent Malizia
North: Aven Burrows, Jasmine Catanzaro, Abhay Chathuruthy, Chrissa Harrison, Richard Malizia, Anisha Pai
