Section League Champions

ADULT 18 & OVER

MEN 2.5 N/A 3.0 Okl h /D yt Du c 3.5 Okl h /J s H y r 4.0 Okl h /Ch S rs 4.5 Okl h /Bill T l r 5.0 Okl h /Bri S ss r

ADULT 40 & OVER

MEN 3.0 Okl h /Bri L r 3.5 H rt A ric /D ug Sch 4.0 Okl h /Mi h Tr 4.5 H rt A ric /R y All

9.0 Okl h /J s Billi gsl 8.0 Okl h /Bill Rigg 7.0 K s s/B Bu y 6.0 Okl h /Th s Ly y MEN ADULT 55 & OVER y

ADULT 65 & OVER

MEN 6.0 N/A 7.0 S t. L uis/D is W tzig 8.0 K s s/Ji B u rs i l

MIXED 18 & OVER 6.0 Okl h /D vi St rt 7.0 K s s/Mich l Chic 8.0 N r sk /C rvi Er i 9.0 K s s/V l ri H l s u r

WOMEN Okl h /M liss McC rkl Okl h /Christ H ss St. L uis/Sh ll y Fri l y H rt A ric /M rci J c Okl h /K ri H l N/A

l

WOMEN Okl h /Tr cy Ly L I /N cy Al si K s s/M l i J s ph Okl h /K ri H l r

WOMEN St. L uis/R s Al r cht N r sk /N cy W ts Okl h /Lis W st N r sk /M ry L u Wi qu

st

WOMEN St. L uis/R s Al r cht Okl h /P ul C s y St. L uis/Sylvi B ll

MIXED 40 & OVER 6.0 Okl h /D v R ki 7.0 K s s/Mich l Chic 8.0 I /Elis th M rks 9.0 Okl h /Ti thy L s

Nearly 40 teams from the USTA Missouri Valley advanced to the 2015 USTA League National Championship by winning the USTA League Missouri Valley Section Championships, held over the course of August and September.

This year, nearly 22,000 people played USTA Leagues across the USTA Missouri Valley. USTA League Tennis was established to provide adult recreational tennis players throughout the country. 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.

Nick Taylor‘s Silver

Medal. Photo courtesy of David Wagner.

Hometown Heroes, International Success

Jack Sock, Nick Taylor Partner Up to Bring Home the Hardware

McCarton Ackerman | USTA.com

In an all-American final for the gold medal in mixed doubles at the Rio Olympics, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock prevailed Sunday in a high-quality contest over Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, 6-7, 6-1, [10-7].

"This is probably going to be at the top [of career accomplishments]," said Mattek-Sands. "This is my first Olympics, first time being selected. I'm super proud of myself for my Grand Slam titles, but I think the Olympics is a different category altogether."

Williams and Ram rallied from 1-3 down in the opening set to force a tiebreak. From 3-3 in the tiebreak, they won four consecutive points to grab the opening set. Mattek-Sands and Sock responded by racing to a 5-0 lead in the second set and eventually bringing the gold medal contest to a deciding match tiebreak.

In a tiebreak filled with drastic swings in momentum, Mattek-Sands and Sock raced to a 3-0 advantage before Williams and Ram won six consecutive points to lead 6-3. But Mattek-Sands and Sock rebounded by winning six points in a row themselves, before clinching gold on their second match point. Sock walked away from Rio with two medals, having clinched a bronze earlier in the week in men’s doubles with Steve Johnson. He is the only tennis player at this year's Olympics to win two medals.

"The victory was pretty special and pretty surreal," Sock told rio.itftennis.com. "Definitely a moment we'll never forget and something we'll always share together."

The medal was the first of any kind for Mattek-Sands and Ram, both of whom were first-time Olympians, as was Sock. “ "The victory was pretty special and pretty surreal. Definitely a moment we'll never forget and something we'll always share together."

Meghan Kearney | USTA Missouri Valley

When Nick Taylor of Wichita, Kansas, headed to Rio de Janeiro earlier this year for the fourth Paralympics in his career, he thought he might just become a fan favorite of the soccer-loving Brazilian fans.

“It will be cool to play there because I think when I serve with my foot, the soccer crazy Brazilians are going to latch on to that pretty quick so I think that will be fun,” Taylor said.

Taylor capped his fourth Paralympics appearance by bringing home a medal for the fourth consecutive time.

Taylor, of Wichita, Kan., along with partner David Wagner fell short in the finals, earning a silver medal. The duo was defeated by Australia in the gold medal match.

Taylor, who competed in the Quad Doubles division, can be identified on the court with his unique way of serving by kicking the ball up with his foot and then hitting it. He’s also identified by his success. Taylor is a three-time gold medalist who narrowly made the cut for the Paralympics this year.

To qualify, a player must be one of the top 12 athletes for their sport in the world before May 23. Points are accumulated throughout tournaments athletes competed in for one year. In years past, Taylor was able to qualify well before the deadline, but this year was down to the wire.

With only two weeks remaining before the deadline, Taylor moved from the eleventh spot to being tied for twelfth. With only one tournament left, the last spot would depend on the winner of a 16 round match at the Japan Open.

“This time, it was down to the absolute wire,” Taylor said. “It was nerve wrecking for a whole week because so much was going to depend on the draw and who we had to play in a 16 round match. I was able to win my match by beating a man I haven’t been able to beat in four years.”

Bringing home a fourth gold medal wouldn’t be easy for Taylor and partner David Wagner. Dating back to the Paralympics in Athens, Greece in 2004, Taylor and Wagner have had unparalleled success making it so they have a target on their back from other competitors.

“There are four to five really solid teams and one of them is an Australian team. We have only played them twice, but they beat us the last time we played them so they are going to be a real challenge because they are very strong,” Taylor said.

Local Players Excel in St. Louis

While players from around the world gathered in St. Louis in October at the US Open USTA Wheelchair Championships, players from the five-state area of the USTA Missouri Valley weren’t without success. Winners in each division earned a coveted USTA Gold Ball.

In the men’s Quad Doubles, Wichita native Nick Taylor partnered with David Wagner to win their tenth US Open USTA Wheelchair Championship. Wagner also won his fifth consecutive Quad Singles title.

The Men’s B Doubles division also had some local flavor in its final. Doubles teams consisting of players from Kansas City as well as Lincoln, Neb., faced each other with Taylor Graham of Lincoln, Neb., and Jack Spicer of Kansas City, Mo. defeating Katie Garcia of Pleasant Hill, Mo., and Brian D. McMillan of Kansas City, Mo., 6-3, 6-1.

Spicer also made it to the semifinals of the Men’s B Singles draw before being defeated by eventual champion Mike Applegate of Sacramento, Calif. However, Spicer won the third-place match earning a USTA Bronze Ball.

In the Men’s A Singles, Doug Dupont of Florissant, Mo., earned second place.

Stephane Houdet of France won the men’s singles and doubles open crowns. Houdet, ranked no. 2 in the world, partnered with top-ranked Shingo Kunieda of Japan in Doubles.

In women’s open singles, Lucy Shuker won the first women’s singles Super Series title of her career. Chile’s Macarena Cabrillana partnered with Kgothatso Montjane to win the women’s open doubles championship.

Andrew Robinson | USTA Missouri Valley