Draw

Lorenzi Racquet Club had their Summer Smash II tournament this part weekend, as kids from as far as Florida and California came out to play the local tennis players.

In the girls 10 and under Christine Uriarte won in two sets while Aurelie Rodriguez took second place. Taking third place, winning the consolation final was Amelia Martinez. She played Valerie Shively and won in two sets. Valerie's brother, Ted Shively also made it to the consolation finals in the boy's 14 and under and won. 

In the boy's 10 and under Brandon Kurtz won again, as he took home a champions trophy earlier this summer at Lorenzi. His whole family plays tennis at Lorenzi at the Monday, Wednesday and Friday clinics at 4:00. His older brother Shawn Kurtz won the 18 and under consolation final. Their parents were on hand the whole tournament watching their son's and the other teens play. Their coach Craig Witcher saw each final as he runs the Lorenzi Racquet Club.

Taking second place in the boy's 10 and under was Josh Burns. To get there he had a nice three set match against Christian Mayfiled that ended 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. Christian then went on to win the consolation final in two sets.

The boy's 12 and under final was between Brian Kenyon and Robert Shawhan. Brian won in two sets as his family watch both he and his brother play in a final Sunday. His brother , Brandon Kenyon, got knocked out of the first round by the eventual winner in the boy's 16 and under, but came back to win the consolation round in a very close match against Bjorn Blomquist 7-5, 6-4.

Coming in second place for the boy's 12 and under was Robert Shawhan who's Dad was there to see him play. Robert won every match of this tournament except the last final.

The boy's 14 and under was missing local stand out Stan Breland but there were many excellent players to fill the void. One such player is perennial finalist Jonathan Ribaste who's mother and grandfather were there to watch him play and win. He took home the number one trophy and did so with some excellent play. Jonathan is one of those players who is innately interested in the game. It was just three years ago that after watching Andre Agassi in the French Open with his mother one early morning when he decided to start playing tennis. And from that point forward he has put himself into the game, along with his other activity's like basketball and school. His grandfather is Lem Banker, who is a well known Sports Handicapper. You may know him from his Friday night segment on channel eight news with his dog Checkers. He was there to support his grandson.

Playing Jonathan in the final was Ian Magid, who's father is the tennis professional for the Mandalay Bay and Luxor. They just recently moved here from California, and it was the last tournament that Ian won the consolation final. This time he made it to the main draw final and came in second to Jonathan Ribaste. Ian has a unique high power two handed forehand. His brother, Joe Magid, also played in this tournament. Their father Joe Magid teaches tennis lessons and he advertises on this site. Once ranked number three in the world in racquet ball he took up tennis and has since become a teaching professional.

Winning the boy's 14 and under final was before mentioned Ted Shively playing Alan Karafa, who sister Alicia Karafa also played in the tournament winning the girls 12 and under main draw and played in the girls 14 and under consolation final. 

The girl's 12 and under final was between her and Virginie Rodriguez. Virginie came in second place doing quite well in her second tournament playing up an age group. Playing in the consolation finals was Nisha Khilnani and Ally Kenny. Ally won in two sets after a very close first set that went her way 7-5.

The girl's 14 and under was filled with action as usual. These young girls can play against many if not all adults, men or woman. Many of them hit the ball very well with very good consistency, making for some great Volley's. This was the case today as Asia Muhammad played the Summer Smash I champion Julia Baltos. In the first set Julia, who's last tournament match against Asia lost 6-2, 6-2, came out of the gate strong up a game all set. Until the end as Asia came back to tie it 6-6, winning the tie breaker 7-2. Then the second set was equally well fought as both players never quit running down balls. But in the end it was Asia who took set number two 6-3, but not after being held off of three match points by Julia. It is amusing to me as I watch these players from tournament to tournament I can see them grow, physically taller and bigger. Jonathan Ribaste, Julia, Asia, and many of these players today seemed much more at ease in their game as Julia and Jonathan both went for every shot without the hesitation. 

Watching the match was Ki Kroll, who coaches both Asia and Julia,  and Asia's mother, grandmother, father Ronald, brother Ronald, and other family members. Julia's father was on hand , involved as usual with the right kind of "Happy to be a part of it" attitude. He told me how he has coached his daughter to see that her attitude is equally as important to her game as the physical aspect. Not to mention the many drills he has played with her and Julia's friend Gabby Gibson. He noticed how players believe they have a game won at 40-15 and slack off, so he made up a game where if she ever gets to 40-15 and does not win the next point, then she goes back to zero.

Winning the girl's 14 and under consolation was Jessica Dangerfield in a close three set match against Alicia Karafa which ended 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Jessica had a nice slice and is unique in her consistent approach to the  net, forcing her opponent to hit passing shots. Alicia also played and won the girl's 12 and under main draw.

The girl's 16 and under had a visit from a former local player who now lives at the Rick Macci tennis Academy in Florida, Maggie Yahner. Maggie showed her affinity toward the game by her pre and post match presence. She watched many of the games that preceded her and after her, and did not come up shy in her own finals match against Bishop Gorman's Carrie Schofield. It was obvious you had two good players, as their ground strokes were solid and the match included some very good rally's. Maggie's parents still live in Las Vegas and she was home on vacation from school.

Both players flew through the draw, with Maggie not losing one game the whole tournament and Carrie only losing one set the whole tournament to Gabby Gibson. Gabby eventually lost the last set to Carrie 6-0 but redeemed herself by winning the consolation final in two sets against Alexa Chicarell. 

Along with the girl's 14 and under final, the highlight of this tournament was the 16 and 18 and under boy's action. In the 16's Alec Runyon, the Desert Palm jr. Open Champion, again stormed through the crowd reaching the finals without much resistance. But it was the dynamic Liang Duo from Sacramento California that reined the day. Both Kevin Liang and his brother Jimmy Liang won the 16 and eighteen boys finals respectively.

Their father was on hand to watch all the matches as they had been in Las Vegas visiting their great Uncle Allen Tong. If the name rings a bell one might remember the Cambridge Tennis Club, which was the heart of Las Vegas tennis for many years. Many of the present day tennis professionals in Las Vegas either worked there or played there. Now it is a indoor skating rink, but at one time it was where Mike Agassi would bring his son in the early morning to hit balls. Or where Dan Knight, Spanish Trails tennis professional, would run his tournaments and the competitive Las Vegas tennis scene. Then Allen Tong ran Cambridge with Michael James as his assistant. At the time Michael James took over as the number one singles player in Nevada after Marty Hennessy held the title for many years, close to 10. In fact, Allen Tong use to see Marty Hennessy, now the tennis professional at Turnburry,  as a youth when he would go to the Hollywood indoor tennis Club for their money challengers. Prior to coming to Las Vegas to retire, Allen Tong ran the world renowned Las Vegas Tennis Club and Hollywood indoor tennis club pro shops. The Los Angeles tennis club has more title winners as members then any other club in the country. From Arthur Ashe to old time greats like Gene Macko. And when he came to Vegas he was asked to run Cambridge and has since retired from tennis and runs his own insurance agency. But he still keeps in the game coaching his two great nephews and a local player Joshua Thompson. Allen mentioned a number of excellent players who came through Las Vegas's Cambridge Tennis Club, one of which is now USC men's tennis coach Ricki Leach. 

Allen played himself for Los Angeles Community college where he and a Richard Williams played number one and number two singles. That year they teamed up to win the state championships together. It was not until years later he would see Richard on TV with his daughters Serena and Venus where he recognized his old team mate..."So that is what came of Richard."

And today he was at Lorenzi to watch his two grand nephews play and win their final.

The 18 and under final was excellent, with Dean Stavri hitting the ball as hard as I have seen it hit. In the second set, already down a set, Dean came back after being down 2-4 to win it 7-5, and in the last set Dean was down 2-5, and came back to nearly tie it but Jimmy Liang pulled it through with some excellent play and last minute focus, winning the last set 7-5. Dean came in an honorable second. Neither player quite.

To reach the final Jimmy Liang had to defeat local standout Michael Uriarte who's whole family was on hand to cheer him on. This was a grueling three set struggle earlier that same day, but Jimmy won it 5-7, 7-6 (12-10), 6-3. To reach the semifinals Michael played a good match against Joshua Thompson, winning 6-3, 7-5.

In the boy's 18 and under consolation final was Kellen Cornutt, who has a wicked left handed serve, and Shawn Kurtz.  Sean won in a very close second set 7-5, that almost slipped away from him. Shawn plays at Lorenzi with Craig Witcher and Kellen at one point also went to Craig's clinics on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's at 4:00pm. Craig use to be the head coach for UNLV men's and woman's tennis team. Since he has been the head professional at Lorenzi.

It seems that a lot of young players just want to play. When I go to these tournaments I see them eager to play other players but often times getting in the way is the peculiar shyness and false pride that stops them from playing someone they perceive to be better or worse. When I go down to Baskin Park, the adult pick-up tennis  Mecca of Las Vegas, there is no rating or age system. You pick up and play and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. One can always rise to the occasion. I interviewed David Pate the other day. He played professional tennis and won the Australian and Los Angeles open among many doubles titles including a recent doubles title at Wimbledon's Gentlemen 35 and over. He made the point that when he was a junior in Las Vegas he played everyone, if they were better or worse, then they all developed together. Today the player you beat may beat you in a couple weeks and vise versa. 

To remedy this many local pro's have put together some tennis clinics and this web site has created a "Junior find a match section" where juniors can list their names to play other juniors. Click here to see this list. You may add your name or just contact those already on the list. Just added to the list is one of Las Vegas's best players Cameron Parker, Dean Stavri, Gabby Gibson, Julia Baltos, Asia Muhammad, Alec Runyon , Austin Schofield and many others. The list is growing, and everyone on it said they are open to being contacted to play. If you are led to play, play, who cares about the self doubts or false pride...just play. Some of the junior open players can contact players on the A-LIST and the Junior open player list as well.

Note, this coming September 5th at 6:00 pm till Sunday September 8th is the Jill Gaynor Scholarship Tennis Tournament. Juniors are welcome to play in the open division. The entry dealine is August 27. The cost of the tournament is $25.00 for singles and $40.00 for doubles. All proceeds go to support a scholarship for local junior tennis players who participate and volunteer in junior tennis events. Those who want to apply for this scholarship money, the Nevada Tennis Association is looking for entry's and you can call them at 792-8384. There is also a scholarship entry form to fill which you can get by e-mailing me at VegasTenniscom@aol.com or by filling out the "Quickmailer form" on the bottom of this page.