APTA Women’s B National Championship
Region 1 hosted the Women’s Platform Tennis National Championship in the B group. The tournament played in Summit, New Jersey was held March 13-14.
To be eligible to play in the women’s B Nationals, players must be APTA members. All APTA members who are not rated in the top 30 women’s teams and who have not won two main draw matches in a row at a national ranking tournament are eligible to play in the B Nationals.
The team of Shauna Muller and Patricia Van Tassel-Cromie entered the tournament as the number one seed, in B classification.
Mueller is the 10th ranked B player playing on the fourth-ranked B team with Van Tassel-Cromie. Nationally Muller is ranked 113th individually and 162 as a team with Van Tassel-Cromie. Her partner Van Tassel-Cromie also holds the 10th B player ranking. Nationally Van Tassel-Cromie is ranked 84th.
Their opponent in the finals was a surprise. The unranked team of Meredith Stravato and Mary Truslow reached the finals by dropping only one set in five matches. This team did not carry a ranking for either B leagues either individually or as a team.
While Stravato currently holds the player ranking of 260 nationally, her partner, Truslow holds the player ranking of 236 nationally.
As mentioned earlier, Stravato-Truslow breezed through the tournament. They defeated the number two ranked team, Portnov-Schneider 6-3,6-3. In the semi-final, they defeated the fourth-ranked team of Hughes-Urban 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
The final pitting the number one seed versus the unseeded team held no surprise. Muller-Van Tassel-Cromie defeated Stravato-Truslow 6-3, 6-4.
Congratulations to the team of Muller-Van Tassel-Cromie, Region 1 Women’s B National Champions.
APTA Men’s B National Championship
The men held their platform tennis national championship in Region 1, March 16 in Short Hills New Jersey.
For the men’s teams to be eligible for the APTA B National Championship, they must be APTA members. They must also not be ranked in the top 50 or won two main draw matches in a row at an NRT (nationally ranked tournament).
The finals pitted the father-son team of David Rosenfeld and Zack Rosenfeld against the team of Sky Kalkman and Andy Thompson.
The father-son duo shares not only last names but identical rankings. Both are the seventh-ranked B players. Their team is ranked third in the B rankings. The Rosenfield’s are returning to the B championship, having lost last year in a three-set battle in the finals to the team of Adrian Buckley and Rob Schenone. Neither Buckley or Schenone participated in this year’s Region 1, B National Championship.
Their opponents this year are not ranked as a team in the B rankings. Individually Sky Kalkman is ranked 199th and Andy Thompson is ranked 689th, in the national rankings. Neither had a B ranking, individually or as a team.
The men’s B championship finished early playing all their games and completing their finals on Saturday. The father-son duo of the Rosenfield’s breezed through the tournament until meeting Kalkman-Thompson in the final round. But more of that in a second, the team of Kalkman-Thompson did not have an easy path. In their five matches before the finals, Kalman-Thompson went three sets in three of the five matches. The finals would be no different.
The team of Kalkman-Thompson won the first set against Rosenfeld-Rosenfeld, 6-4, only to drop the second set 4-6. The final set was a battle of wills, won by Kalkman-Thompson, 7-6. For the second straight year the father-son duo came up short in the finals of the B Championship in three sets.
Congratulations to Kalkman-Thompson, winners of Region 1 APTA Men’s B National Championship.
National Championship
The B tournaments are stepping stones for players to enter the National Championship. Teams must play two events to qualify for a season-end national B ranking. Good luck to all teams on their road to the Nationals.
