On Friday, August 19th, the USTA Middles States section held Sectional Championships for Adult teams (Women’s and Men’s) in Princeton, NJ. The winners at each level, 2.5 through 5.0 advance to National Championships in the Fall. This is the primary event that USTA players strive to make each year so that they can have a chance to get to Nationals – something many league players never have the opportunity to do. To play at Sectionals you have to win your District and there are six districts in Middle States; Delaware, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Central PA, Eastern PA, and Philadelphia.
When all was said and done, the Philadelphia District was the big winner sending 7 teams to Nationals including: 2.5 women, 3.0 women, 3.0 men, 3.5 women, 4.0 women, 5.0 women and 5.0 men. An 8th could be the Delaware 4.5 men’s team which is comprised of almost all Philly players. This is the team I’m on.
Here’s how things went down from a players perspective. The weekend started off with rain and thus indoor tennis. The most fearsome team we faced was New Jersey and we played them first on Friday morning. We did not have one of our top doubles team but we did have a solid lineup. This was our toughest match and we dropped only 8 total games on the two singles courts with 
Ollie “All-in” Jones and John Ellis winning in convincing fashion. At doubles, Ryan Gargullo and Jared Howat had a wonderful win 4&3 at 1st doubles and it also looked like we’d win 3rd doubles, at least when I walked away after the first set. In the end I have to give credit to NJ for winning a match they shouldn’t have. Joe Ferry and Jason Goldman-Petri (JGP) were seemingly in control of the match. We won the first set, lost the 2nd set but took control at 7-3 in the match tiebreaker before we hit an out ball which would have made it 8-3. We ended up losing the match tiebreaker 18-16 with both teams saving multiple match points. This was a really great match to watch and fortunately for us we had already secured the team win for a great start to the weekend. Of note, NJ was missing what may be their top doubles team in Gino and Chris Carosella. This could have made things a bit more interesting depending upon who they may have matched up against.
The 2nd of five matches for Delaware during the weekend was Central which is the team that the captain of Delaware was playing for – Chris Kyper. And, yes, you read that correctly. Delaware took all five courts against Central and Chris wasn’t in the lineup. Delaware was off to a strong 2-0 start along with the Pittsburgh team. Central and Eastern were both 1-1 and Philly & NJ brought up the rear as both were 0-2. If you are familiar with previous sectional championships you know that this is completely inverted from the usual standings.
The Delaware team celebrated at a gazebo like structure at Staybridge Suites and most of us went to the player’s banquet for dinner and drinks. I think the entire team danced a song or two. Trevor Anderson and Ryan Gargullo are great to see on the dance floor.
On Saturday I donned my coordinators hat and worked with Jay Witmer at the Princeton University site. This was one of three sites where Sectional championships were held and this is where the 3.0, 4.5 and 5.0 women along with 2.5 men played. Although I missed my own team’s matches Saturday, I wasn’t available to play for my Delaware team due to my wrist injury (not that they needed my services to succeed). One funny thing that happened Saturday involved a 3.0 woman who had just won her first ever sectionals match. She was in a very good mood as she 
came off court and headed to the tournament desk to return the balls and report the scores. I saw the end of her match as it was close to the tournament desk and when she arrived I commented “nice win” and put both my hands out , palms up to receive the used tennis balls she was returning. She quickly put the balls down and slapped my hands as I surprisingly stated, “I just wanted the balls.” “Oh” she said sheepishly, “I’m a Kindergarten teacher; I give lots of high fives.”
Meanwhile, my team dispatched of Eastern PA Saturday morning taking all five courts and prepared for the fourth match which would decide who wins Sectionals, the battle of the then 3-0 teams, Delaware and Pittsburgh. Delaware prevailed 4-1 with a stunning straight sets victory at 1st doubles by Trevor Anderson and JGP. It was a phenomenal win for two guys who had never played before against a winning sectionals team that have played together for 10 years. We won singles and in fact did not lose a singles court all weekend. Delaware has 6 singles players qualified for Nationals that are easily capable of winning National level matches. The depth of this team is impressive.
On Sund
ay, Delaware played the Philly team which is also captained by Chris Kyper. We were 4-0 and needed only to win 1 court (or a loss of 1 court by Pittsburgh) to clinch a trip to Nationals. The matches were very entertaining as everybody knows each other. Nick Gallagher (playing for Philly) faced Alex Tanzio (Delaware) and the first set was an absolute nail biter. Alex started out dressed in Sniper Blue and ended up in his familiar red outfit. After pulling out the win we asked Alex, “why the mid-match match wardrobe switch?” “Oh, way to close for Blue” was the answer. Delaware won the match 4-1 ending the tournament with a perfect 5-0 team record. Delaware dropped only 4 doubles courts in 25 individual matches. Simply amazing.
Next up is Nationals in Tucson Arizona October 28th – 30th. It’s impossible to predict what will happen there but I think this team has a reasonable chance.
