Week 3 Tennis League Results

Week 3 of the Stratford Tennis League took place this week. The early game was a battle of the top two teams. Lyric Flowers continued their early season domination by easily taking down Donkers Agri.
Donkers got off to a good start sweeping the Men’s #1 Doubles with Grant McPherson and John Noble downing Richard Bast and Steven Schwartzentruber 6-3 6-2. Phil Lambert and Lanny Hoare of Lyric returned the favour in the Men’s #2 Doubles scoring a 6-2 6-3 victory over Mike Schiedel and Stuart Arkett.
The Ladies #1 Doubles went to Donkers as Maria Donkers and Sandie Ennett took out Nicolle Crowley and Linda Doig 6-3 6-2. Lindsay Murray and Michele Thomson won the Ladies #2 Doubles for Lyric with a 6-4 6-3 win over Cox Wensink and Marilyn Leasa.
The Mixed Doubles is where Lyric Flowers showed their dominance. They won the #1 Mixed as Crowley and Bast blasted Donkers and McPherson 6-1. Doig and Schwartzentruber took the #2 Mixed for Lyric with a 6-3 victory over Ennett and Noble. The #3 Mixed also went to Lyric as Murray and Lambert dominated Wensink and Schiedel 6-1. Lyric completed their sweep of the Mixed matches taking the #4 match up with Thomson and Hoare over running Leasa and Arkett 6-1.
The 8 sets to 4 sets victory for Lyric Flowers gives them a significant lead in the season standings.
The late game had Sunrise Health Services facing Auto Motion. Just like the early game, the match was even after doubles play but Sunrise swept the mixed sets to secure the victory.
The Men’s #1 Doubles saw a split of sets as Pat McCarroll and Ryan Lay of Auto Motion took the first set 7-5, while Paul Coates and Murray Schiedel of Sunrise won the second set 6-2. Sunrise Health won the Men’s #2 Doubles as Jared Larder and Jagdish Patel took down Lanny Hoare and Stuart Arkett 6-2 6-2.
The Ladies #1 Doubles also split sets as Johanna Billings and Monica Eickmeyer took the first set 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie-breaker) before Marta Andrekovic and Deb Murphy scored a 6-3 win in the second set for Sunrise. Auto Motion dominated the Ladies #2 Doubles with Nancy Rheaume and Jessica Barton shutting out Liz Yundt and Marilyn Holmes 6-0 6-0.
Sunrise Health began the Mixed Doubles with a close win as Andrekovic and Coates edged Billings and McCarroll 7-5 in the #1 match up. Murphy and Schiedel won the #2 Mixed for Sunrise with a 6-4 victory over Eickmeyer and Lay. Yundt and Larder scored a 6-1 win for Sunrise over Rheaume and Hoare in the Mixed #3 Doubles. The sweep of the mixed was complete when Sunrise’s Holmes and Patel took out Barton and Oliver 6-1 in the #4 match.
With their 8 sets to 4 win Sunrise Health Services jumped up into a tie for second place in the season standings.
Week 4 will see Donkers Agri and Sunrise Health Services playing the early game. First place Lyric Flowers will try to keep their hot streak alive taking on Auto Motion in the late game.

Article by: Bill White
Photo by: Seven S.

Picture : Maria Donkers of Donkers Agri hits a forehand return in Ladies Doubles play.

 The Stratford Tennis Club held its annual doubles tournament this past weekend. For the 47th straight year on the second Saturday in June men’s and ladies doubles teams from across the province have participated in this event. This years event saw the 2015 champions in both the men’s and ladies events repeat as champions.

The men’s draw saw the Stratford team of Grant McPherson and Bob Tamblyn take the title for the second straight year. After beating Matt Brown and Sungmin Yoon of Waterloo (last year’s finalists and 2013  and 2012 champions) in the semifinals , McPherson and Tamblyn advanced to the final where they faced Harry and Mark Greenan of Cambridge. In a very high calibre final the Stratford team scored an 8-5 victory to take the championship.

The men’s ‘B’ final was mostly a Stratford affair. Stratford’s Graham Heaton and his brother in law Dominic Sadowski from Barrie advanced to the ‘B’ final for the third straight year. Their opponents were Stratford teenagers Ryan Lay and Jared Larder. After falling short the last two years Heaton and Sadowski were able to claim the ‘B’ championship with an 8-4 victory.

The ladies draw once again belonged to Mary Ann Gaskin and Janet Hofstra of Cambridge. Defending the title they won last year Gaskin and Hofstra rolled through the ladies draw. The championship match was much the same as Gaskin and Hofstra  dominated Johanna Billings and Maria Donkers of Stratford  taking the title with an 8-1 victory.

The ladies ‘B’ final was an all Stratford affair. Marta Andrekovic and Monica Eickmeyer won the ‘B’ championship doubling up Janet Bradley and Nicolle Crowley 8-4 in the title match.

Picture 1 :  (l to r)  Maria Donkers and Johanna Billings (‘A’ finalists) + Janet Hofstra and Mary Ann Gaskin (‘A’ champions)

Picture 2 :  (l to r)  Harry Greenan and Mark Greenan (‘A’ finalists) +  Grant McPherson and Bob Tamblyn (‘A’ champions)

Picture 3 : (l to r) front row Monica Eickmeyer and Marta Andrekovic (‘B’ champions), back row Gail Shelton and Janet Bradley (‘B’ finalists)

Picture 4 : (l to r)  front row Dominic Sadowski and Graham Heaton (‘B’ champions), back row Ryan Lay and Jared Larder (‘B’ finalists)

The Stratford Tennis Club held its annual Super Set Doubles Tournament this past weekend. The men’s and ladies doubles event is for club members only. With 12 men’s teams and 11 ladies teams it was a full day of competitive tennis.

The Men’s ‘A’ champions are the new team of Max Besworth and Zdenko Andrekovic. Andrekovic’s original partner had to withdraw the day before due to illness leaving him out of the tournament. When Besworth’s partner injured himself Friday night the call went out to Andrekovic and a new team was set. Besworth and Andrekovic advanced to the final with a thrilling semifinal win in a tie-breaker. The opponents in the final were top seeds Grant McPherson and Bob Tamblyn who had dominated on their way to the final. The championship match was an even affair with Besworth and Andrekovic’s volleying skills giving the top seeds all they could handle.  A tie-breaker was needed to determine the winner and Besworth/Andrekovic took control winning the tie-breaker 7-2 to take the championship.

The Men’s ‘A’ consolation title went to brothers John and Luke Fischer. Fresh off their silver medal performance in the Ontario High School championships the brothers regrouped after their tough semifinal loss to Besworth/Andrekovic to dominate the ‘A’ consolation final shutting out Pat McCarroll and Murray Schiedel 8-0. The Men’s ‘B’ title went to Jason Erb and Wayne Carney who scored an 8-2 victory over Steven Schwartzentruber and Christopher Smith in the title match. Youngsters Luke McCarroll and Jared Larder took the Men’s ‘B’ championship by downing Stuart Arkett and Ric Oliver 8-2 in the final.

The Ladies ‘A’ championship went to Johanna Billings and Deb Murphy. Billings and Murphy the top seeds and defending champions advanced to the final with fairly routine victories over their opponents. The final was anything but routine. Facing Naomi Lange and Maria Donkers in the title match the champs were pushed to the limit but finally prevailed with a hard fought 8-6 victory.

Marta Andrekovic and Nicolle Crowley took the Ladies ‘A’ consolation title with a convincing 8-1 win over Gail Shelton and Janet Bradley. The Ladies ‘B’ championship match was another nail biter. Eventually Michele Thomson and Erma Weernink were able to edge out Julie Drake and Susan Zorgdrager 8-6 to claim the crown. The Ladies ‘B’ consolation final saw Noella Schiedel and Caryn Scott double up Jolanda Van Der Eijk and Debbie Mitchell 8-4 to secure their championship.

Picture 1 : (l to r)  Bob Tamblyn + Grant McPherson – Men’s ‘A’ finalists, Max Besworth + Zdenko Andrekovic – Men’s ‘A’ champions

Picture 2 : (l to r)  Deb Murphy + Johanna Billings – Ladies ‘A’ champions , Maria Donkers + Naomi Lange – Ladies ‘A’ finalists

Our 2015 tennis year culminated with the annual awards ceremony held at the club on Saturday, September 26th. In addition to the presentation of the medals and trophies to the Club Champions, the Club saluted its special award winners.

The 2015 Jerry Johnson Award for sportsmanship and love of the game was presented to junior, Declan Feore, and adult recipient Greg Misener. Both Declan and Greg embodied what the award represents by their active participation at the Club and their sportsmanship both on and off the court.

The Rebecca Miskin Award for member of the year was awarded to Michele Thomson. Michelle was a positive and constant presence at the Club and actively involved in promoting the club and its activities. 

A heartfelt thanks goes out to Bill and his staff consisting of Steven, Kaitlyn, Ryan, Luke F and Luke M. You all did a magnificent job of keeping the clubhouse in good working order and the courts so well maintained. Bill’s superior ability in promoting the game of tennis and the club to our many visitors, keeps them coming back! The early morning group also showed its appreciation of Bill’s special efforts with a small presentation in the final week. Photos are posted in the photo gallery.

A new light shed has been constructed after 47 years! The fund raising efforts of the club and its membership, have allowed us to replace our deteriorating light shed. A huge THANKS is extended to Mark Boyle for taking the lead on this project and scheduling all the work with Ben Sheds, Bicks Electric and Festival Hydro. Mark was also instrumental in dismantling the old shed and helping to prepare the floor surface.  Wolf Jansen, and Wayne Carney graciously helped Mark to do the latter and to protect the electrical panel during the transition. Thanks also to Stuart Arkett for helping to transport and to dispose our old shed.  

Have a wonderful fall and Thanksgiving everyone! See you in the spring of 2016!

Nancy Chung

OCTOBER E NEWS 2015    Click to view

                                                                                    Member Of The Year  – Michele Thomson

Junior Grand Slam Winners  Mackenzie Dumais and Michael Vandewiel

  Open Award Winners 

Jerry Johnson Award  Declan Feore   

              Junior Award Winners

The Stratford Tennis Club closed out its competive schedule this weekend with the 8th annual Masters Doubles Tournament. 21 teams participated in the Men’s and Ladies events. Matches were ‘pro sets’, first team to win 8 games would take the match.  

The Ladies draw saw a couple first time partners making the ‘A’ final. Marta Andrekovic and Monica Eickmeyer took on Michele Thomson and Sandie Ennett in the championship match. Andrekovic and Eickmeyer pushed out to a lead but Thomson and Ennett climbed back into the match. With Andrekovic and Eickmeyer leading 7-6 Thomson and Ennett needed a service break to send the match to a tie breaker. Andrekovic and Eickmeyer stood strong taking the game and the championship with an 8-6 victory. This is the third Masters championship for Andrekovic and the first for Eickmeyer. The Ladies ‘A’ consolation winners are Erma Weernink and Maria Donkers who doubled up Carmen Miron and Janet Bradley taking the title with an 8-4 victory.

The Ladies ‘B’ final saw Johanna Billings and Deb Murphy in complete control as they scored an 8-2 win over Heather Henke and Nancy Rheaume. The Ladies ‘B’ consolation title went to Gail Shelton and Cathy Mowbray who downed Barb Thibeault and Allison Hiller 8-3 in the championship match.

The Men’s ‘A’ saw a changing of the guard with two teams making their first appearance in the championship match. John Noble and Kurt Eickmeier eliminated 4 time defending champions Zdenko Andrekovic and Bill White to advance to the championship match; while Jason Erb and Wayne Carney took out Jagdish Patel (who had won the first 3 Masters ‘A’ titles) and Mike Furlong. The Men’s ‘A’ final followed the pattern of the Ladies ‘A’ final. Erb and Carney took a 7-3 lead before Noble and Eickmeier made their run. Winning 3 straight games Noble and Eickmeier got back on serve and just needed a service hold to get to a tie breaker. But Erb and Carney would not be denied, they broke serve and won the championship 8 games to 6. This is the first title for Erb and Carney.

The Men’s ‘A’ consolation title went to Andrekovic and White as they downed Patel and Furlong 8-5 in the final. The Men’s ‘B’ championship went to Pat McCarroll and Paul Coates. McCarroll and Coates stormed back in the final against Brent Hiller and Murray Schiedel getting to a tie breaker where they triumphed 8 points to 6 points. The ‘B’ consolation title went to Jeffrey Sun and Stuart Arkett who dominated Mike Murphy and Rob Teasdale, winning 8-0 in the final.

 Bill White                                         Wayne Carney and Jason Erb (men’s ‘A’ champions) , Marta Andrekovic and Monica Eickmeyer (ladies ‘A’ champions)   

The Stratford Tennis Club continued its championship tournaments this week with the ‘A’ and ‘B’ singles events. With approximately 70 spectators looking on, the Club’s best battled for the 2015 titles.
The ‘A’ finals in both the Men’s and Ladies events was the past vs the future to see who is the present as experienced finalists took on young first timers.
The Men’s ‘A’ final was the most anticipated match of the year. Defending champion Bob Tamblyn would face teenager Grant McPherson. Tamblyn is the most decorated champion in the modern history of the Club. Tamblyn took the court with 10 Men’s ‘A’ singles titles already to his credit, including 4 in the last 6 years. McPherson has been the player of the year at the Club. McPherson won the Super Set singles event earlier in the season as well as a gold medal in the Ontario High School tournament (non-ranked divicion) and his first OTA sanctioned event. Both players cruised through the draw to reach the final.

The match began as  expected with McPherson’s powerful ground strokes and attacking strategy battling Tamblyn’s incredible foot work and accurate counter punching. Tamblyn was handling McPherson’s big serve not giving the challenger any easy points. The long, tough rallies featured some great shot making thrilling the large crowd. With his power not paying its usual dividends McPherson added some incredible drop shots and drop volleys. The touch shots were enough for McPherson to take the first set by a 6-4 score.

Like a true champion Tamblyn dug in. The second set began with Tamblyn racing out to a 5-1 lead due to his steady and accurate ground strokes as well as his own effective net play. McPherson wouldn’t concede the set and went on a run of his own. After rallying to tie the set at 5 games each McPherson broke Tamblyn’s serve to give him the opportunity to serve for the championship. Tamblyn dug deep and was able to break right back sending the set to a tie-breaker.

Punctuated by a second serve ace that must have been the hardest hit shot of the night McPherson scored a 7-4 victory in the tie-breaker giving the 17 year old his first Men’s ‘A’ singles championship. The 6-4  7-6 victory made McPherson the 13th different man to win the ‘A’ singles title in the 47 years of the Club.

The Ladies ‘A’ singles final saw multi-time finalist Marta Andrekovic take on 14 year old Nicolle Crowley. Andrekovic was appearing in her third straight Ladies ‘A’ singles final. Though she had yet to win the title Andrekovic has been one of the top lady players in the Club for several years. Crowley came into her first ‘A’ final after winning the previous two Ladies ‘B’ titles.

The match began with many great rallies and long games. Andrekovic’s experience seemed to pay off as she was able to take those close games and scored a 6-1 victory in the set. Crowley’s powerful first serve , as well as her effective spin second serve, gave Andrekovic some trouble but when the rallies started it was Andrekovic who made the teenager do most of the running. The nicely hit ground strokes provided an entertaining match for the spectators. Andekovic was able to stay ahead in the second set and finally put the match away with a 6-3 second set win. The 6-1  6-3 victory gave Andrekovic a well deserved first Ladies ‘A’ singles title.

The Men’s ‘B’ singles final was  a battle between two of the most improved players in the Club. Lefty Chris Smith would take on James Wilson for the title. Both players had survived tough semifinal matches. On Monday Wilson had outlasted Graham Heaton taking his semi 6-4 in the third set. Tuesday night saw Smith drop the first set to Brent Hiller before taking the second set in a tie-breaker and then scoring a 6-3 win in the deciding third set. This was the first singles final for both players.

The championship match began with teenager Wilson showing off his court coverage, chasing down every ball and controlling the set. Wilson seemed to be cruising as he scored a 6-1 first set victory. Smith then upped his game , adding some power to his shots and using his sweet lefty serve to his advantage. Smith was able to edge Wilson in a tie-breaker (7 points to 4) to take the second set and send the match to a third and deciding set. The third set saw Smith run out of gas. With his shots losing some of their steam Wilson was able to handle everything thrown at him. Wilson didn’t let up and took over the match. Scoring a 6-0 victory in the third set  Wilson claimed the Men’s ‘B’ singles championship. This is Wilson’s first singles title at the Club and caps a very impressive season for the youngster.

The Ladies ‘B’ singles final was another match up of an experienced player against a first time finalist. Nancy Rheaume, who won the Ladies ‘B’ singles title in 2004, would face Julie Drake who was in her first final in only her second time play in a tournament at the Club.

The match began with Rheaume’s experience showing as she took the first 4 games. Once Drake’s calmed her nerves she got back into the match by winning the next 3 games. Drake’s powerful forehand was giving Rheaume problems  so being a crafty veteran Rheaume started picking on Drake’s backhand. By nullifying Drake’s power Rheaume was able to use her superior court coverage to control the rallies. Rheaume used her foot speed and experience to score a 6-3 6-1 victory claiming the 2015 Ladies ‘B’ singles championship.

Interestingly, all 4 singles champions had lost a previous final in the 2015 Championships. McPherson had lost the Men’s ‘A’ Doubles, Andrekovic fell in the ‘A’ Mixed Doubles championship match, Wilson had lost the Men’s ‘B’ Doubles final, and Rheaume was a runner up in the Ladies ‘A’ Doubles. All were able to score victories in the singles events completing a successful tournament season. The cool,damp night saw some great tennis and was a wonderful cap to the Club Championship ‘open’ events. The Championship finishes this weekend with the junior final matches.  

Bill White

 (l to r)  Chris Smith (men’s ‘B’ finalist), James Wilson (men’s ‘B’ champion), Grant McPherson (men’s ‘A’ champion), Bob Tamblyn (men’s ‘A’ finalist)

(l to r) Nicolle Crowley (ladies ‘A’ finalist), Marta Andrekovic (ladies ‘A’ champion), Nancy Rheaume (ladies ‘B’ champion), Julie Drake (ladies ‘B’ finalist)

Club Championship tournaments continued at the Stratford Tennis Club this past weekend. Quarter final matches in both Men’s and Ladies Doubles  began on Saturday with a round of 16.  On Sunday the semifinals and finals of all events were held. All teams began play in the ‘A’ divisions with teams losing their first round match then filling out the ‘B’ division. 

The Ladies Doubles saw top seeds Marta Andrekovic and Carmen Miron easily advance to Sunday’s semifinals where they would face Naomi Lange and Sandie Ennett. Lange and Ennett had defeated former champions Linda Doig and Ginny Smith in the first round sending the 11 time ‘A’ champions to the ‘B’ division on their way to the semis. The bottom half of the draw saw #2 seeds Johanna Billings and Deb Murphy win their first two matches to secure their semifinal position. Their semifinal opponents would be Heather Henke and Nancy Rheaume who prevailed in a marathon first round match with Gail Shelton and Janet Bradley . They won 7-6 7-6 in 2 and a half hours for the match of the day on Saturday.

Sunday’s ‘A’ semifinals saw the top seeds fall. Lange and Ennett dispatched the top seeds Andrekovic and Miron with a dominating 6-2 6-1 victory. With Ennett running down all balls and Lange dominating at the net the challengers were in complete control of the match. In their first tournament playing together Lange and Ennett advanced to the championship match. Lange had won the Ladies ‘A’ doubles two previous times, the last time being 2002. After several years out of the game Lange has regained her form in the second year of her comeback. Ennett has won the Ladies ‘B’ doubles several times and was an ‘A’ finalist last season with Krista Plociennik as her partner.

The bottom side of the draw also saw the higher seed fall as Henke and Rheaume edged Billings and Murphy 6-4 7-6 (7 points to 4 in the tie breaker) in their semi. Henke and Rheaume , the 2003 ‘A’ champions, made some great gets and few errors in their upset win. This set up an ‘A’ final of Lange and Ennett  vs Henke and Rheaume on Sunday night.

The ‘B’ semifinals were a total contrast. The top half of the draw saw Doig and Smith cruise through their semi with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Nicolle Crowley and Marilyn Holmes. This set up Doig and Smith’s first trip to a ‘B’ final. The bottom half of the draw was anything but a cruise. Defending ‘B’ champions Shelton and Bradley were once again involved in the ladies match of the day. Facing Michele Thomson and Liz Yundt , Shelton and Bradley would once again be on the court for over 2 and a half hours. Thomson and Yundt took the first set 6-4 before Shelton and Bradley rebounded to take the next two sets by a 6-3 7-5 score. So Sunday night would see Doig/Smith face Shelton/Bradley for the Ladies ‘B’ title.

(l to r)  Greg Vivian and Grant McPherson (Men’s ‘A’ finalists) John Fischer and Shannon Dyke (Men’s ‘A’ champions); Ryan Lay and Steven Schwartzentruber (Men’s ‘B’ champions) Jim Wilson and James Wilson (Men’s ‘B’ finalists)      

  (l to r)  Heather Henke and Nancy Rheaume (Ladies ‘A’ finalists) Sandie Ennett and Naomi Lange (Ladies ‘A’ champions); Gail Shelton and Janet Bradley (Ladies ‘B’ champions) Ginny Smith and Linda Doig (Ladies ‘B’ finalists)

A small group of Stratford Club members enjoyed a great day of tennis at the recent Rogers Cup. In our excellent box seats in the shade we viewed some great matches. Delicious nibblies donated by all who went made for some tasty snacking throughout the day. The rain cleared up just in time for our viewing pleasure!

The Stratford Tennis Club began its annual Club Championship tournaments this weekend with the Mixed Doubles events. Teams battled each other and the heat to determine the ‘A’ and ‘B’ champions. All teams began in the ‘A’ division with those losing their first round match proceeding into the ‘B’ draw.

STRATFORD TENNIS CLUB AUGUST E NEWS