The 4.5 Twin Cities men's team captained by Eric Gleason won the USTA League Tennis 4.5 National Championship in Las Vegas. It marks the first USTA Northern National Champion since the men's 5.5 team won in Las Vegas in 2004.
Gleason's team, who play out of the Fred Wells Tennis & Education Center, had one goal in mind coming into the weekend - winning the National title. All of the players played against each other in college at some point and decided to come together to form one team with hopes of winning it all. To read more about the team, click here.
Northern started the weekend by finishing 4-0 in its round-robin flight and advancing to play on Sunday. Gleason's team opened with a 4-1 win over Southwest. It then defeated Intermountain 3-2 by winning two third-set tiebreakers. Northern then beat Missouri Valley 4-1, winning three third-set tiebreakers in the process. It then closed out round-robin play with a 3-2 win over Middle States.
Northern played Southern in the semifinals, defeating them 3-2. Northern won both singles matches and the #3 doubles position to play Northern California in the finals. They defeated Nor Cal by the same 3-2 score, winning both singles matches and the #3 doubles spot.
Members of the winning 4.5 team included Geoffrey Basham, Brandon Heath, Jay Schlorf, Adam Arians, Marc Stingley, David Holt, Clay Sollenberger, Kyle Rice, Kent Stadum, Joel Hickman, Sean Kangrga, Steve Fridinger, Nelson Iginla, Jared Goerlitz, Ben Herding, Benjamin Davis, Carl Wahlstrand, Aaron Zenner and Justin Baker.
Representing USTA Northern at the 4.5 women's tournament in Las Vegas was the Twin Cities team captained by Molly Fischer. Fischer's team finished 0-3 losing to Florida and Hawaii Pacific 5-0 and falling to Eastern 4-1. Members of Fischer's team included Kara Johnson, Jean Noack, Dana Beck, Courtney Gramling, Lisa Ogren, Kari Mack, Violet Shortly, Sally Leary, Ann McNamara, Pamela Muetzel, Emily Blodgett, Jennifer Miller, Noelle Dougan and Elisabeth Hurlbert.
Intermountain defeated Pacific Northwest 3-2 for the 4.5 title.
The men's 3.0 senior team from the Twin Cities playing in Tucson was captained by Richard Tanler. They finished 1-3, losing to Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic 3-0, Florida 2-1 and defeating Intermountain 2-1. Other members of the Tanler's team included John DeLuca, Gary Everett, Frank Fallon, Avron Gordon, Daniel Grote, Steve Nielsen, Bo Nilsson, Thomas Peterson and Dave Sprague.
Texas defeated Missouri Valley for the men's championship.
Elizabeth Johnson's Twin Cities team finished 1-2 in Tucson. They defeated Mid-Atlantic 3-0, before falling short again Middle States 2-1 and Hawaii Pacific 2-1. Members of Johnson's team included Jeanne Arntzen, Karen Cronin, Mary Edwards, Muriel Hackney, Elaine Koyama, Carol Landry, Sheila Northrop, Alice Reuter and Ruby Rott.
New England defeated Intermountain for the 3.0 women's title.
For complete results, click here.