LIMA – It’s rare for an instructor to be able to play with, or against his students in a tournament.
It’s even more unusual for the teacher to both play with and against his students at the same time in a tournament setting.
In one of Saturday’s semifinal matches in the championship bracket of the Lima Area Tennis Association’s Mixed Doubles City Tournament at the University of Northwestern Ohio, Jeff Brown had the rare opportunity to do just that. Brown is the tennis pro at both Westwood and Shawnee Country Club.
In Saturday’s semifinal, Brown teamed up with Marina Fuduric to face Lucia Fuduric and Austin Hammett. The Fuduric sisters, Marina (11) and Lucia (9), are students of Brown’s. In Saturday’s matchup, Brown and his partner defeated their opponents 6-1, 6-1.
With the victory, Brown and Fuduric will face Jason Barton and Kaitlin Snider in today’s championship match, that is slated to start at 10 a.m. at UNOH.
Barton and Snider won their semifinal on Saturday, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, over Jeff Arthur and Andrea Arango-Brown.
“We really haven’t played together before,” Marina Fuduric said about teaming up with Brown. “Usually when I practice doubles, I’m with someone else. So, it was a fun experience. I think we’re doing really good. I felt pretty confident. It was fun to beat her. And she played pretty good, too.”
For Brown, having the opportunity to watch the Fuduric’s mature has been an enjoyable experience.
“Watching them grow and then compete – it’s been awesome,” Brown said. “Watching them when they were younger, hitting balls way over the net and now it’s going right to their opponent at full speed. …It’s been fun to watch.”
Marina will be in the sixth grade at St. Charles, while her sister will be in the fourth grade this coming school year.
In Saturday’s other semifinal of the championship bracket, Barton and Snider came back strong in the second and third sets to put away Arthur and Arango-Brown. Arango-Brown is the spouse of Jeff Brown.
Barton (21), a former standout at Shawnee, is heading into his senior year at LeMoyne College (Division II, Syracuse, N.Y.), where he plays tennis. Snider (20), who exceled at Wapakoneta, now plays tennis at Ashland University (D-II), where she will be a junior this fall.
“We had a slow start today. I didn’t have a whole lot of energy,” Barton said. “Today, we pulled it out really well. We fought hard. We played a tiebreaker in our first set, and then we played a full third. I guess we just love playing third sets. I think we just happened to turn it up a notch, and we took advantage of some mistakes. We got some easy points, here and there, and we consolidated our errors. That’s the way it worked out.”
Added Snider, “We played really well and we worked well together. It was the first time (to play together). So, we just went for it.”
This year marked the first time LATA has put on a Junior Singles Co-Ed Tournament. The Junior Singles is comprised of athletes between the ages of 8-15.
In Saturday’s finals, Gabe Burke, a sixth-grader at Shawnee, defeated Mason Stahl, a seventh-grader at Shawnee, 8-3.
In Saturday’s Mixed Doubles Draw, Jeanna Haggard and Mark Bauman defeated Mary Lou Roush and Brad Kelley 6-3, 6-1. In another Mixed Doubles Draw match, the duo of Mike Klock and Kassie Hill, knocked off the team of Barbie Prince and Ray Kraft 6-2, 5-7, 4-6.
In the Championship Backdraw, Natassja Boham and Zach Schroeder defeated Julianna Hotmire and Alex Gonzales 6-4, 6-4 in a finals match.
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