Six members of the Virginia men's and women's club tennis teams spent their Spring Break in a similar fashion to many of their college counterparts. They took a trip down south to Florida and soaked up a little sun. However, unlike some other students, they were not sipping margaritas and sporting oversized sombreros while dozing off at 2 p.m. every afternoon. They were a little more productive.
The squad, comprised of three males and three females, traveled to Daytona Beach to compete with 40 other teams from 34 different schools in the USA Team Tennis National Campus Championships. After three days of competition, the team can say that it is one of the two best club tennis teams in the nation.
Virginia, represented by junior Elliot Rosenblum, junior Romaine Esmenjuad, freshman Rick Sherwood, sophomore Mallori Browne, junior Shoa Tavassoli and sophomore Leigh Schoettinger defeated Johns Hopkins, Villanova, Florida International, University of Puerto Rico, N.C State and UCLA before falling to Texas A & M in the tournament finals.
"Our final match was televised," Club Tennis Team President Elliot Rosenblum said. "It had ball boys and a chair umpire. It gave a real professional feel that a lot of us weren't used to. We were called out onto the court, introduced by Tom Gullickson, the former Davis Cup captain. It really gave us an elite, professional match feel."
The teams began the first day of play in eight separate groupings of round-robin action which lasted through the second day of competition. The winners of each of these groups qualified for the final, eight-team tournament. This sort of set-up wouldn't have been possible in years past.
"In 2000, [the tournament] took place in Austin, Texas and there were 10 teams from 10 different schools," International Tennis Association Representative Casey Angle said. "It's had a steady increase each year and now it's at a point where it's very much a national event."
The tournament was created by the ITA, the United States Tennis Association and the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association five years ago in an ongoing push to keep many of the nation's high school tennis players involved throughout college and the rest of their lives by stressing that it isn't necessary to be a world-class player in order to enjoy the sport. There is intense competition in the club ranks, but there is a more relaxed atmosphere compared to varsity.
"Everybody was hard-core rooting for their team -- there were arguments about lines and things," Rosenblum said. "But what we all enjoyed most about the experience was the team unity that everybody showed... Everybody was really friendly after the matches."
This sort of experience is all the more valuable to a group of students who play for the sake of the game and nothing more. There are no athletic scholarships at this level, no fanfare and no luxuries. On a team consisting of some players who could compete at the varsity level elsewhere, a second place finish in the nation was a welcome reward.
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