Preview: Rescheduled USTA Florida Mixed 18 & Over 6.0/8.0 League Sectional Tennis Chps.

Hurricane Matthew’s path through Florida caused a rescheduling of the USTA Florida Mixed 18 & Over 6.0/8.0 League Sectional Championships, which will be held this weekend, Oct. 14-16, 2016, at the Florida Tennis Center in Daytona Beach.

Orange/Seminole and Pinellas counties have both won five Florida sectionals titles this year (see standings below), trailed by Clay and Miami-Dade County with four titles. Counties defending championships from last year this weekend are Clay (6.0 division) and Indian River/Martin/St. Lucie (8.0).

This weekend’s champions in the 6.0/8.0/10.0 divisions will represent the USTA Florida Section at the 2016 USTA League Mixed 18 & Over 6.0/8.0/10.0 National Championships on Nov. 11-13 at the Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, Ariz.

The event has drawn the top regional winners from throughout Florida in the 6.0/8.0/10.0 USTA League Mixed 18 & Over divisions. The teams, which represent various clubs, parks, recreational departments and organizations, have finished at the top of their local leagues.

Divisions and teams competing this weekend:

Mixed 18 & Over 6.0 Division

Round Robin:
Alachua County (captain: Mark Martin)
Duval County (captain: Jeff Dao)
Escambia County (Maggie Lochas)
Indian River/St. Lucie/Manatee counties (Lori Fry)
Polk County (William Floyd)
Volusia/Flagler counties (Sharon Burt)

Mixed 18 & Over 8.0 Division

Flight 1:
Collier County (Channon Champ)
Miami-Dade County-South (Guillermo Gonzalez)
Palm Beach County-North (Dianne Rescigno Fletcher)
Sarasota/Manatee counties (Janet Sperling)

Flight 2:
Alachua County (captain: Roy Cribb)
Broward County (Gustavo Risquez)
Duval County (Maureen Kennedy)
Hillsborough County (Sylvie Roy)
Indian River/St. Lucie/Manatee counties (Pat Galligan)

Flight 3:
Brevard County (captain: Susie Soughers)
Lee/Charlotte counties (Donna Bouffard)
Marion County (captain: Corri Yelken)
Orange/Seminole counties (Kyrsten Crociata)
Polk County (Jayma Knight)

Established in 1980, USTA League has grown from 13,000 participants in a few parts of the country in its first year to more than 904,000 players across the nation today, making it the world’s largest recreational tennis league. The league groups players by using six National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) levels, ranging from 2.5 (entry) to 5.0 (advanced). USTA League is open to any USTA member 18 years of age or older.

The 2016 USTA League season will be the fourth season with an updated structure and format that offers four age categories (Adult 18 & Over, Adult 40 & Over and Adult 55 & Over and Mixed 18 & Over) to better align participants with players their own age. A fifth age division, the Mixed 40 & Over, was added in 2014.

2016 USTA FLORIDA ADULT LEAGUE
SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE LEADERS

Pinellas moves into a tie with Orange/Seminole counties to share the lead in the 2016 sectional championships standings after a title at the recent Mixed 18 & Over championships. Here are the league sectional title leaders this year (through Oct. 10, most recent winners in bold):

1T. Orange/Seminole counties (5 titles) — 40&Over W4.5+/M3.5, 18&Over M5.0/W4.5/W3.5
1T. Pinellas County (5) — 55&Over W4.0/M4.0, 40&Over X8.0/X9.0, 18&Over X9.0

3T. Clay County (4) — 55&Over W3.0, 40&Over W3.5, 18&Over W3.0/W4.0
3T. Miami-Dade County (4) — 40&Over W4.0/M4.0, 18&Over M4.0/M4.5

5T. Broward County (3) — 55&Over M4.5, 18&Over M3.5/X7.0
5T. Collier County (3) — 65&Over W6.0, 55&Over M3.5/W4.5
5T. Marion County (3) — 55&Over M3.0, 40&Over X6.0/M3.0
5T. Volusia/Flagler counties (3) — 55&Over W3.5, 40&Over X7.0, 18&Over W-Open

9. Lee/Charlotte counties (2) — 65&Over M7.0, 18&Over M-Open

10T. Alachua County (1) — 65&Over M6.0
10T. Duval County (1) — 18&Over W2.5
10T. Indian River/St. Lucie/Martin counties (1) — 65&Over W7.0
10T. Leon County (1) — 18&Over M3.0
10T. Nassau County (1) — 65&Over W8.0
10T. Palm Beach County (1) — 18&Over W5.0
10T. Polk County (1) — 65&Over M8.0
10T. Sarasota County (1) — 40&Over M4.5+
10T. St. Johns County (1) — 40&Over W3.0

For more USTA Florida Leagues championship information go to www.ustaflorida.com/events/category/adultevents/ustafloridaleaguetennis/ustafloridaleaguesectionchamps/list.