By Carson Phillips, Duval County/Jacksonville USTA Local League Coordinator

Florida Yacht Club Women’s Win Makes 3 in a Row for Duval County at Sectionals

The Florida Yacht Club women won the Women’s 2.5 division at the USTA Florida 18 & Over 2.5/3.5/4.5+ League Sectional Championships the weekend of Aug. 18-20, 2017. 

This team also competed very well in the local league competition. They won their first two matches at sectionals before a heart-breaking loss in the third match. As luck would have it though, that team then lost in round robin play, and Duval and Hillsborough counties ended up tied 4-1, with Duval winning the individual wins tiebreaker to claim the sectionals title.

It was the third straight win (2015-17) for Duval County in the 18 & Over Women’s 2.5 division at the Florida sectionals. The FYC women will represent the state of Florida at the USTA League 2.5 National Championships on Oct. 13-15 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. 

“We are so excited to be the 2.5 champions and we look forward to representing Florida and our wonderful tennis club, The Florida Yacht Club, at nationals in October,” said team captain Deb Taylor. “Thanks USTA Florida for running a phenomenal event, it ran so smoothly and we enjoyed being a part of sectionals. We were also impressed by our opponents’ sportsmanship and camaraderie and we were thrilled by the genuine enthusiasm and support shown by all.”

Florida Yacht Club Men Win 18 & Over 3.0

The week prior to the women, the Florida Yacht Club men won the 3.0 title at the USTA Florida 18 & Over 3.0/4.0/5.0+ League Sectionals, edging Polk County (Beerman Family Tennis Center, Lakeland) in round robin play.

During opening day of sectionals round robin play, the FYC men won their first two rounds, 4-1 over Marion County and 3-2 over Escambia County. Polk also ended the first day with two victories over Leon County and Marion. FYC swept all six dubs lines and won seven of 10 lines overall, while dropping only eight total sets. 

Polk posted six court wins against four losses, with 10 total sets lost. Duval and Polk appeared set up for a winner-take-all match on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.

The FYC and Polk teams advanced to a 3-0 record on Saturday, with FYC sweeping Leon, and Polk sweeping Escambia. FYC and Polk were far and away the top two teams in the Men’s 3.0 flight.

The two fittingly met in the closing round robin match of the division. In the final match, four of the five lines were split between the two teams. The last remaining match went to a second-set tiebreak, then a third-set tiebreak. In the third-set super-tiebreak FYC had championship point at 9-4 before Polk won three points in a row to close the gap to 9-7, then the tense match ended with a service return winner that sent the FYC Men’s 3.0 team to nationals for the first time in club history!

Congratulations to FYC for a well-deserved victory, we are most proud of Florida Yacht Club for winning twice at the 18 & Over sectionals!