Because they were resilient in Yakima, three tennis players from Vancouver will get to play alongside the pros.
By winning a United States Tennis Association sectional championship, Greg Conn, Sutjay Lee, and Charles Hahn will now play for a national championship during BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Tour 1000 Masters tournament next March at Indian Wells, Calif.
“This is far from a small feat,” said Hahn, the team captain, noting that his team will be treated just like the pros on hand for the ATP tournament while at Indian Wells.
The championship the Vancouver Tennis Center team won was the Pacific Northwest Section One Doubles for men level 4.0. One Doubles is a 3-year-old league where teams play one match for each competition round. Most USTA team events use a best-of-3 format.
Conn and Lee teamed up for the two days of competition in Yakima. Hahn is the tennis coach for the Fort Vancouver High School boys team and was unable to be in Yakima until Sunday. So he left it to Conn and Lee to play for the Section title.
They won it after losing their first match of the weekend in a third-set tie-breaker. And they won it after falling behind 2-5 and 1-4 in each of the first two sets of the final against a Seattle Tennis Club team, winning the title match 7-5, 7-5.
“Greg and Sutjay are amazing,” Hahn said. “Even when they are down they seem to be able to relax and play their best tennis enabling them to come back from large holes.”
Conn said the consistency of their play allowed them to overcome the up-and-down game from their opponent in the final match.
“We just played steady and never gave up,” Conn said.
In truth, the odds against the VTC three were even longer. They placed second in their Portland-area league, and were at the Sectionals in Yakima only because the league champs could not attend.
The opportunity to play at Indian Wells alongside the best players in the world makes this accomplishment extra special, Hahn said.
He said that if the VTC three take the national title in March at Indian Wells, they will be presented the trophy in front of thousands of tennis fans.
Which is a long way from Yakima.
“It’s going to be quite humbling,” Conn said.
Women’s tennis featured
International Tennis Hall of Famer Dodo Cheney is back in Vancouver this week, playing in the over-90 doubles tournament at the U.S. Tennis Association indoor nationals for women ages 70, 80 and 90-plus.
Cheney, who won what is now called the Australian Open and reached the semifinals at other tennis majors, has won more than 380 national tennis championships. This year, she is playing only one doubles match in Vancouver, hoping to add to her championships. Her match is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
The tournament began Monday and runs through Sunday at Club Green Meadows and is open to the public.
Local golfer wins OGA title
Jeff Gustafson of Vancouver was medalist, leading Broodmoor Golf Club to the title of the Oregon Golf Association’s men’s Team Championship Tournament.
Gustafson shot 5-under 139 for the 72-hole tournament that took place Saturday and Sunday at Broken Top in Bend, Ore. Gustafson was two shots better than Eric Fiskum of Salem.
Kirk Schwerzler of Camas, playing for Camas Meadows, and Jonathan Romano and Gregg Guernsey of Vancouver, playing for Royal Oaks, each finished at even-par 144 to tie for eighth place individually.
Royal Oaks placed fifth in the team scoring, and had a second team tie for 13th.
Swim club omitted
In last week’s column, I forgot to include a fourth Clark County youth and adult swim club that participates in USA Swimming events. The Lacamas HeadHunter Swim Team at Lacamas Swim and Sport in Camas has 130 age-group swimmers and 50 masters (adult) swimmers, according to coach Wes Edwards.
The Southwest Washington Masters Swimmers, which includes members of the HeadHunters, Vancouver Swim Club and Tornadoes Swim Team, placed second nationally among medium size clubs in the One Hour Postal Challenge. Forty SWMS swimmers swam 136,275 yards in an hour in that event.
Paul Danzer covers Community Sports for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-735-4521 or at paul.danzer@columbian.com.
