Tennessee Combos Champs• Friday-Sunday in Chattanooga5.0 adult women: Knoxville (Maples). 5.5 adult women: Knoxville (Brown/Lemoncelli). 5.5 adult men: Knoxville (Doak). 6.5 adult women: Knoxville (Nelson/Lemoncelli). 6.5 senior women: Knoxville (Trewhitt/Petersen). 6.5 super senior women: Murfreesboro (Hoens). 6.5 adult men: Chattanooga (Shields). 6.5 senior men: Chattanooga (Bartley). 7.5 adult women: Memphis (Rauscher). 7.5 senior women: Chattanooga (Davis). 7.5 super senior women: Knoxville (Pearson-Criss/Whitehead). 7.5 adult men: Jackson (Goodfellow). 7.5 senior men: Knoxville (Thompson). 7.5 super senior men: Memphis (Fultz). 8.5 adult women: Nashville (Faulkner). 8.5 senior women: Nashville (Gibney). 8.5 adult men: Chattanooga (Proffitt). 8.5 senior men: Chattanooga (Snyder). 9.5 adult women: Nashville (Freas).
Hometown teams won five titles as the USTA Combos Tennessee Championships concluded Sunday in Chattanooga.
The identical 6.5 teams with Gary Shields and Tony Bartley as captains got away with their Sunday morning gamble and simultaneously clinched men's adult and seniors berths in the Southern Sectionals next March in Mobile, Ala. Each gave up a forfeit in one doubles match but won the other two, and they went a combined 10-0 in the two divisions.
Chattanooga won men's 8.5 adult and seniors titles as well. That was the highest men's division in the district (state) tournament. Tennessee has one 9.5 combo men's team this year, and that Memphis group already has been awarded a berth in Mobile.
One local women's team won. That was the 7.5 senior team headed by Linda Davis, including also Libby Dixon, Karen Ellis, Beverly Geismar, Faye Hope, Jane Marsh, Maureen Morrison, Shana Patten, Mary Jo Richie, Kathy Tugman, Pat Weddle and Barbara Zellner. They went 5-1.
The Tennessee tournament played out at the Champions Club and McCallie and Baylor schools.
Brian Proffitt is captain of Chattanooga's triumphant 8.5 adult team, which also includes Severo Avila, Scott Carroll, Dee Evans, Ben Fisher, Lionel Girolet, Brent Hemstreet, Jordan Hubbard, Kenneth Joel Porterfield and Bobby Price.
Captain of the 8.5 seniors is Ringgold resident David Snyder, who also had a 7.5 seniors team that finished second by one point Saturday in a tiebreaker with Knoxville. Snyder's 8.5 team includes Lee Brouner, Richard Campbell, Robert Fisher, Ed Hersperger, Kirk Kelly, Jerry Miller, Scott Raines and Raymond Roddy.
Miller's overhand smash at the net ended a 2-1 win over Knoxville with a 10-8 tiebreaker victory in his and Hersperger's deciding doubles match Sunday morning, making the afternoon match against Memphis meaningless in that division's double-round-robin competition.
"Even though we were 4-0 after last night, we still had to beat at least one of those two teams," Snyder said. "For both of them, their other match today was against the [upper East Tennessee] team that hadn't won, so we had to figure they would win those.
"In that last match with Ed and Jerry, we were up 8-5 [in the tiebreaker] and then all of a sudden we were up just 9-8 and Knoxville was serving. It was close."
Miller played with different partners throughout the weekend. The only pairings Snyder kept consistent were himself with Kelly, going 3-0, and Brouner with Fisher.
Snyder's 7.5 seniors team that still could get a wild card or a Georgia berth in the Southerns includes Randy Ball, Dan Barry, Bartley, Dale Bolton, Adrian Ellis, Patrick Farnsley, Rick Grau, Rex Allen Long, Miller and Bill Sheehan.