Undefeated MVP

Congratulations to Rosie Gliatis, who completed 3 years of Middle School tennis at CSG going undefeated.  She was also named MVP for this years team.

Midwest Level 4 East Tournament

Congratulations to Jack Dabek and Connor Biernat for reaching the semifinals of the Midwest Level 4 East Tournament in Toledo last weekend.  Jordan Phelps also won 4 matches, including defeating the 2 seed.  Connor defeated the 2 seed to make the semis.  Jack was unseeded and defeated the 4 and 8 seeds.

18s Team Tennis National Finalists

For the 2nd straight weekend, RCC had a team reach the Final Four of the Junior Team Tennis National Championships.  The 18s Int team reached the finals last weekend, the best result at Nationals by a Racquet Club team.

The team consisted of Alex Hulka, Shuo Liu, Arjun Venkataraman, Brianna Brdicka, Ashley Weeks and Nicole Holman.  Amber Lee and Beniva Ganther were also on the team but couldn't go.

The team won it's 1st match on Friday against New England (Massachusetts), winning 4 out of 5 courts.

Later that day, the team won against Northern (Wisconsin).  The team won 3 out of 5 courts, but were very competitive in the 2 losses, and picked up multiple games in singles.  Alex Hulka, who was competitive in Singles matches all weekend, rebounded from the morning posting a very solid 6-3 6-1 win.  Ashley Weeks and Nicole Holman lost only one match the whole tournament, which came against Northern, in which they only lost by 2 games 6-5 6-5.  Boys doubles were also in competitive matches the whole tournament, and improved each match as the tournament went on.  They lost to Northern, but went 3 tiebreakers.  Brianna Brdicka won in singles and in mixed doubles with Shuo Liu.
The team swept is final flight match against So Cal, and earned a spot in the semifinals.

In the semi, the team defeated a strong Mid-Atlantic team from Washington D.C.  Girls doubles posted a huge 6-1, 6-3 win.  Alex Hulka lost in a 3rd set, but won by 4 total games, winning the 1st set 6-0.  Brdicka continued her strong weekend with another big win in singles.  Shuo Liu went undefeated with Brdicka in mixed doubles.

RCC fell in the Final to a strong Middle States team that had many college players.
Brdicka was very competitive in her only loss of the weekend, losing in two tiebreak sets.  Girls doubles continued a very strong weekend with a 6-5 6-2 win.  Venkataraman and Liu at Boys doubles lost 14-12 in the 3rd in probably the most exciting match of the weekend, battling back from 1-5.
The team received a Banner and a plate at the closing ceremonies for reaching the Finals.

Also, from Midwest, Scarborough got 5th place in 18s Adv, losing to the Texas team who won the tournament.

Girls State Tournament

Congratulations to the Girls who qualified and competed at States last weekend.
All 3 girls from RCC won 1st round matches making them 1st team All State.
From Upper Arlington, Junior Olivia Kompa came back from losing the 1st set, to win a match lasting almost 4 hours 1-6 6-4 6-4.  She then lost to state Finalist Molly Sandberg.

Alex Cash, a sophomore from New Albany, won against the 1 seed from Toledo 6-2 6-4 in the 1st round, before falling to Tessa Hill, a State Semifinalist from last year also.

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Bri Brdicka, a Junior from Olentangy played with Kathleen Jones and won 1st round 6-3 6-2 before falling to the 1 seeds from Toledo, McNamara and Nahhas, who finished 3rd.
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Nationals Team Tennis 14s Final Four

The Racquet Club of Columbus 14s advanced team reached the final four of the National Junior Team Tennis Championships this past weekend in Columbia, South Carolina.

Team members included Victoria Fan, Paige Kompa, Sarina Xie, Robert Cash, Colten Clark, Jack Dabek, Robert Dong, and Jordan Phelps.

2014 marked a three peat for the team as Ohio Valley District and Midwest Champions. former members included Erica Chen, Alex Cash, Ashley Tan, Olivia Kompa, Connor Biernat, and Rohith Koneru. 

At the National Championships RCC won their first match over Eastern from Hardscrabble CC without dropping a match.  Sarina and Jordan posted singles victories.  Paige / Victoria, Colten / Robert Dong and Jack / Sarina posted doubles wins.

In the sweet 16 RCC played Southern Cal. Paige won in singles, and in doubles, Robert Cash with Jack Dabek, Sarina with Victoria, and Colten with Paige posted victories.

In the quarterfinals with a final four berth on the line, RCC drew a much improved Northern Section team that hammered us last year.  In a testy and tightly contested match Paige won in two tie break sets (+2 games) Jordan won in a match tiebreak (+1) Robert Cash & Jack Dabek won 6 and 2 (+5) and in a huge doubles contest, Sarina and Victoria came back from 3-6 to win 6-2 and fell in a Tiebreak ( even ) over Olympic Hockey great Herb Brooks granddaughter .

With the match on the line and up 8 games, RCC selected Colten Clark and Paige Kompa, and although they fell by three games it was enough to propel RCC into the final four.

In the semifinals RCC lost to Austin Tennis Academy with Dabek and Cash posting a victory and in the Battle for third the team fell to the Eastern team from Queens with Dabek and Cash and Kompa and Dong posting victories. Both teams that defeated RCC reached the final four in 2013 and played terrific against us.

 At the closing ceremonies RCC was honored with a banner for our club for reaching the final four at the National Championships. Each member received a copper medal .

Coach Bryan Nibert's banner was selected as the National Championship Advanced Team winner for artistic design.  All team members were brought again to center court and given Awards. With great sportsmanship, team effort and practice, RCC is heading back to the courts to prepare for 2015.

High School Girls State Tournament

Congratulations to all of the Girls who qualified for the State Tournament including Division I Singles qualifiers Olivia Kompa (Upper Arlington) and Alex Cash (New Albany) and Division I Doubles qualifiers Brianna Brdicka  / Kathleen Jones (Olentangy).
Olivia is a 1st time state qualifier and reached the District Finals.  Brdicka and Jones are the 1st State qualifiers from Olentangy in over 50 years.  Alex is returning to states after qualifying last year in the State Doubles Tournament.

The State Tournament is this Friday and Saturday, October 17th and 18th.  Play begins at 9:00 A.M. Friday.
Friday - Ohio State Varsity Tennis Courts
Saturday - Hilliard Davidson High School
Rain Site - Elysium Tennis Center

Draws:
Division I Singles
Division I Doubles
Division II Singles
Division II Doubles

USTA Regional Tournament 3rd Place

Congratulations to Trevor Ball for getting 3rd Place last weekend at the USTA Boys 12s Regional Tournament in Cincinnati.  Trevor beat 3 seeds including the 3rd seed in the 1st round.

National Selection Tournament Finalists

Congratulations to Robert Cash and Jack Dabek for reaching the Finals of the Boys 14s National Selection Tournament in Dayton.  They saved match point in the tiebreaker of the semifinals to win 9-8 (8-6).  They lost to the 1 seeds in the final.

Girls High School Districts

Congratulations to all the Girls who qualified for the Central Ohio High School Districts which are scheduled for this Friday and Saturday.
District I is scheduled for Hilliard Davidson on Friday and CSG on Saturday.
District II is scheduled for CSG Friday and Saturday.

Congratulations to the following Singles and Doubles qualifiers.

Division I Singles
Alex Cash (New Albany) sectional champion
Olivia Kompa (Upper Arlington) sectional champion
Ashley Tan (Dublin Coffman)
Erica Chen (Worthington Kilbourne)
Jessica Phelps (Olentangy Orange)
Taylor Selby (New Albany)

Division I Doubles
Bri Brdicka / Kathleen Jones (Olentangy) Sectional Champions
Anna Grumman / Ashley Weeks (Upper Arlington)
Victoria Fan / Nari Johnson (Dublin Coffman)
Sophia Wible (Watterson)

Draws
District I Singles
District I Doubles

Tournament Results

Congratulations to Caroline Sproule who won her 1st Tournament at Wickertree last weekend in the Girls 12s.

Maddie Atway was a Finalist in the Girls 14s at Elysium.  Madison Spiess won 2 rounds.

Trevor Ball won the Boys 14s Consolation at Elysium. Griffin Biernat and Osuke Fujita won 3 matches and Logan Spiess won 2.

Ashley Thai Named Country Financial Scholar-Athlete Of The Week

Ashley Thai Named Country Financial Scholar-Athlete Of The Week

Post Match / Post Training Stretching

Right after a match or training session is a very important time to stretch.  Players bodies are still warm and they increase there range of motion and flexibility, while also helping there muscles recover better.  It is normal for tennis players to get tight glutes, hip flexors and hamstrings after training.  A lot of lower back injuries are caused from tightness in these areas.  In addition, increasing the range of motion in the shoulders is very important in performance and injury prevention.

Some important post training stretches are shown below.  They should be held for around 30 seconds. It's good to have a MM stretch strap or MB Stretchband, but tubing can also be used and wrapped around the foot for assisted leg stretches.




Glute stretch
The pigeon stretch is also very good.

Hip Flexor Stetch

Sholder Stretch (sleeper stretch)