Kailua Draws International Talent To Women’s Doubles
By Jack Danilewicz
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS | Share
Del.icio.us
|
“Fan friendly” is perhaps the best way to describe Kailua Racquet Club’s Island Design Center Women’s Night Doubles Tournament.
“You’re sitting closer to the action than the linesmen at Wimbledon,” tournament director Bruce Nagel is quick to point out.
He’s equally quick to note the impressive field that has been assembled for next week’s tournament, and with good reason. Such has been the growing reputation of the tournament that in 2009 Nagel is dropping the invite-only format and opening the event to others, much like the men’s doubles tournament, which seeds eight teams within a much larger field.
Under the current format, eight teams are invited to take part in the women’s tournament.
“We’ve always tried to focus on getting the top-level college players, and the local colleges have a lot of international ties,” said Nagel. “In HPU and BYUH, you have two of the top Division II programs in the country. Competition has always been great from the first match. Watching these women is pretty much like watching the pros.”
This year’s field is nothing less than stellar. All told, the tournament, which runs Nov. 12 through 15, will have players from seven different countries and such diverse towns as Tournefeuille, France; Rastatt, Germany; M-Walldorf, Germany; Seal Beach, Calif.; Maribor, Slovenia; Minsk, Belarus; Brno, Czech Republic; Gothenburg, Sweden; Skarpnack, Sweden (originally from Serbia); and Honolulu.
In each of the last six years, players from BYUH have dominated the tournament and produced the champion (and sometimes the runner-up). Former Seasider Jing Jing Liu has been on the winning doubles team each of the last four years, in fact, having won the tournament with three different partners. But she has since returned to China and won’t take part in next week’s event, making the tourney appear to be wide open.
The University of Hawaii also will be well-represented, with the team of Sophie Kobuch and Ellen Linsenbolz expected. A sophomore from France, Kobu is the top player on the UH women’s team and ranks 69th nationally, while Linsenbolz is a newcomer to the UH team who was ranked second in Germany.
Also playing will be the team of Anja-Vanessa Peter (Germany) and highly regarded newcomer Melinda Wong, who transferred from the University of Washington to UH for her senior year. Alyssa Nafarrete (California) and Natasha Zorec (Slovenia) also will team up from the UH program. HPU will have Anastasiya Ageychik (Minsk, Belarus) and Sandra Wikstron (Sweden) on one team while Zora Vlckova (Czech Republic) and Aleksandra Stankovic (Sweden) will comprise another. Although the field wasn’t finalized as of late last week, a team from BYUH was a good possibility, according to Nagel.
Matches are scheduled at 6 and 7:15 nightly. The tournament is sanctioned by the USTA as a professional invitational tennis tournament and is presented by Bruce Nagel Tennis Academy.
A sister to the racquet club’s popular Men’s Nights Doubles, the women’s tourney has donated more than $30,000 to Women’s Services at Castle Medical Center for the fight against breast cancer.
The event is free and open to the public and features tasty gourmet meals, door prizes and great entertainment. Corporate and individual sponsorship packages are available that also include a catered dinner party. For more information, call Bruce Nagel at 384-8481.
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS
Most Recent Comment(s):
