Sunday marked the final day of play at the 2018 USTA Junior Team Tennis 14 & Under National Championships, hosted by the USTA National Campus. Despite early morning rain that delayed the start of play, all matches were completed, including the Intermediate and Advanced championship duals, which were forced indoors.

The Dallas Select group representing the Texas Section completely owned the day, sweeping both team titles. Their Intermediate squad held off Midwest (Advantage Indy) by a 50-37 margin while the Advanced team, which needed a wild card just to make it to the national stage, outlasted fellow Lone Star State representatives ATA Dream Team, 47-42.

Dominant performances in the girls’ singles and doubles matchups paced Dallas Select to the Intermediate crown. Chelsie Sun delivered a 6-0, 6-4 effort over Midwest’s Jamison Geoffreys to get her squad off to a solid start. Cody Huang and Mariansofia Aguirre were even more impressive, losing just three games in defeating Isabella May and Heidi Wendowski 6-1, 6-2. Also coming up big for Dallas Select was Lance Luong, who shook off a slow start to rally back for a 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 victory in boys’ singles against Jack Jentz. Midwest managed to stay close with a 6-2, 6-5 triumph from Alexander Antonopoulos and Adrien Qi versus Yuki Asako and Trooper Denson in boys’ doubles. Despite the fact Jentz and Geoffreys also successfully teamed up in the mixed contest, their 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 win over Connor Castro and Emma Allen was not enough.

Tightly-contested from the start, the all-Texas showdown for the Advanced title was decided in mixed doubles. ATA showed their strength on the boys’ side, as Nico Jamison cruised past Esunge Ndumbe 6-1, 6-3 while Devan Sabapathy and Lawrence Li defeated Herman Aguirre and Jeremy Yu 6-5, 6-2. Dallas Select countered on the girls’ side, headlined by Marcela Lopez’s comprehensive 6-0, 6-1 result in taking down Alexandra Malysheva. The duo of Sarah Allen and Morgan Pyrz also proved too tough for Kendall Curley and Kerry Lum, as they prevailed 6-4, 6-2. Dallas Select held the advantage with just the mixed left to be resolved. The contest would feature a trio of tiebreaks, with Lopez and Aguirre battling to take the first before Jamison and Malysheva rebound for the second. Both tandems held multiple match points in the decisive match tiebreak before Lopez and Aguirre finally came through, 13 points to 11.

A replay of the championship broadcast can be watched here.

Other awards handed out on Sunday included the individual and team sportsmanship awards. For the Advanced division, Marlon Abarca Jr. of the Hawaii Pacific's Slamming Acers and Sarah Allen from Dallas Select were honored. Intermediate players garnering this accolade included Justin Sowinski from the Southwest's Team ATA and Kei Chung of Southern California's Sunshine Aces G7.

In the team sportsmanship award category, the team from Ormond Beach representing the Florida Section collected the honor.

One final award on the weekend was the Best Banner Award, which went to Missouri Valley's RH-91 White on the Intermediate side and Huaka'i from Hawaii Pacific in the Advanced division.

Established in 1991, USTA Junior Team Tennis provides youth with all of the health and social benefits of tennis in a coed, fun and competitive environment – all while allowing participants to compete with and against individuals of similar ages and skill levels.

With more than 85,000 players competing nationwide, USTA Junior Team Tennis brings players together to enjoy camaraderie and teamwork, providing a fun environment for kids to learn that succeeding is really more about how they play the game – win or lose.

Each year the USTA crowns a national champion in two age divisions (14U and 18U) in both the Intermediate and Advanced classifications. In last year’s 14U competition, the OC Dream Team representing the Southern California Section brought home the Advanced crown while Northern California’s Cal Tennis Club The Council captured the Intermediate title.

For complete results from the 2018 USTA JTT 14U National Championships, click here.

All final results from Sunday are listed below.

INTERMEDIATE RESULTS

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Texas (Dallas Select) def. Midwest (Advantage Indy) 50-37

THIRD PLACE

Southern (One Hit Wonders) def. Mid-Atlantic (Westwood Nuclear Nine) 54-36

FIFTH PLACE

Eastern (MatchPoint MAGIC) def. Northern California (Four Directions Tennis) 51-42

SEVENTH PLACE

Hawaii Pacific (BTC) def. Caribbean (Caguas II) 43-39

NINTH PLACE

Pacific Northwest (Gold Creek Orcas) def. Mo. Valley (RH-91 White) 44-29

ELEVENTH PLACE

New England (New England Tennis Center) def. Middles States (Northwood Kick) 49-37

THIRTEENTH PLACE

Northern (Badgers) def. Southwest (Team ATA) 46-39

FIFTEENTH PLACE

Southern California (Sunshine Aces G7) def. Florida (Shack Team) 48-24

ADVANCED RESULTS

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Texas WC (Dallas Select) def. Texas (ATA Dream Team) 47-42 

THIRD PLACE

Southern (Atlanta Smashers) def. Northern (SLP Yeti's) 51-39

FIFTH PLACE

Southern California (South Bay Bombers) def. Eastern (NYJTL Team Huber) 51-27

SEVENTH PLACE

Eastern WC (Harlem) def. Mid-Atlantic (Linx Warriors) 56-33

NINTH PLACE

Midwest (Indiana Smash) def. Southern WC (Mississippi Slammers) 51-40

ELEVENTH PLACE

Hawaii Pacific WC (Huaka'i) def. Hawaii Pacific (Slamming Acers) 51-39

THIRTEENTH PLACE

New England (MadRackets) def. Pacific Northwest (Rippers) 42-41

FIFTEENTH PLACE

Mo. Valley (CCRC) def. Northern WC (SPUTniks) 42-40