Tuesday’s matches were much warmer. Garnet Jones and Gary Balaski were defeated by Paul Riedell and Irv Neltnor.
Three of the women who competed in the last Sunday round paused for a photo before fleeing the cold. Pictured are Linda Carr, Rae Lewis and Sylvia Page. Kathy Moore got away quickly and missed the photo. Moore and Page won the match.
Penny Petersen
Cottonwood Tennis Club’s Men’s and Women’s Doubles Tournament (Gender Doubles) began Sunday, January 6. It did not start out well. The first matches were to be played at 9:00 a.m. But it rained all night Saturday night and at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning, it looked more like the Northwest than Arizona. By 9:00 a.m., the rain had stopped, but the courts were drowned in puddles.
About 22 people armed with brooms, squeegees and leaf blowers attacked the five courts. The group went through two bags of towels and at one time, had four blowers going. Matches were postponed until 11:00 a.m. It seemed the day had been saved. The first five matches were completed and the second round begun when suddenly clouds covered the sky and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Spectators wore heavy jackets and shivered under quickly-fetched blankets. All the matches were completed, but the last two didn’t finish until after 5:00 p.m. Fortunately, the Monday through Wednesday matches were played in more ideal conditions, cool and sunny.
The Gender Doubles participation was good. There were 88 players, or 44 teams lined up for play. Competition was divided into three ability levels for both men and women, and winners in each of the six divisions were awarded prizes on Saturday, January 26.
The deadline for the February Splash was the day before the Gender Doubles final matches, so the winners of the Gender Doubles will be announced in the March Splash.