Fairborn tennis league reaches halfway point

FAIRBORN — The Fairborn Parks and Recreation Summer Tennis League is at the halfway mark. It is bigger than ever this summer with a total of 92 participants, a record number! The Singles are played on Monday nights at 5:30 and 7 and the Doubles are played on Wednesdays at the same times. Matches are played at the new courts at Community Park next to the High School with matches also played at Wedgewood Park, Rona Hills Park, and some are sent to Wright State. The players are from the surrounding communities with most being from Fairborn, Beavercreek, and Xenia. There are also players from Enon, Kettering, Riverside, Englewood, Huber Heights, and Dayton.

The play consists of two sets with each one counting one point. At the end of the season of eight weeks there is a playoff of the top players and teams in each division. This summer, the rain has been the biggest challenge with a few weeks being rained out. The players must then make up their matches on their own time and report the scores. It has been some good fun and competitive tennis so far.

In the Singles Divisions there 18 players in Division A and 24 players in Division B. Both of the singles divisions have been divided into two groups with the top players at the end in each group playing each other in a mini- playoff tournament. In Division A Singles there have been some good matches. The champion for the last 3 years has only played one match so far as Rodolfo Burguera has been slowed by the rain, but he did beat Xenia Christian’s no. 1 singles player, Jesse Holloway, 6-4, 6-0. Fairborn’s no. 1 player, Jon Long, is off to a good start and is undefeated so far. Shannon Young, an assistant coach at Beavercreek HS is also leading with a record of 5-1. Jim Liu is also at 5-1 record. Jinsob Choi of Centerville is also atop the groups at this time with a 5-1 record losing his only set to Jason Holloway, a former Xenia Christian player

In Division B there are two groups of 12 players each so players are playing all over town at the local courts. In this play, Xenia Christian coach Van Holloway has the best record so far being undefeated at 6-0. Carroll HS player, Matt Pitstick has been playing very well also hitting some hard shots and moving them all over the court. Zach Henderson is also at 5-1 splitting with Pitstick. Fairborn tennis coach Terry Miller, is also off to a good start with a record of 6-2 losing his only two sets to Henderson.

In Doubles play, Division A has 12 teams this summer with the top-4 finishers making the playoffs. Leading the league so far is the rain with a couple of Wednesdays being rained out. The leading teams are the father/son team of Jinsob and Jaewoo Choi of Centerville. The other leading team with a 4-2 record are Shannon Young and one of the Beavercreek players, Hayden Clark.

In Doubles B there are 13 teams with four teams undefeated at 6-0 records. Last year’s champions, the team of Fairborn’s Jennie Klump/Jennifer Beard remain undefeated. Last year’s runner-ups, the father/son team of Steve Neff Sr. and Jr. are also 6-0, the team of Terry Miller/Dave Livingston are also at 6-0, and the team of Marshall LeVett/Nathan Boyer haven’t lost yet as well. There has been some good completion in this doubles league so far.

The season is at the halfway point with some exciting tennis so far. The singles had the week off due to the holiday and play will continue on Monday, July 13. Tennis fans are invited to come out and see some of the finest tennis in the area on some of the best courts around.