The Mills College tennis team earned two championship wins at the USTA Fall Classic on the weekend of Sept. 29, 2006.
The Mills College USTA Fall Classic took place Friday, Sept. 29 through Sunday Oct. 1, 2006 at the Mills College tennis courts. The USTA Fall Classic is a Northern California Sanctioned Tournament of over 150 players, both men and women, from Oakland and surrounding areas. Five students from Mills participated, four of whom belong to the Mills Tennis Team, and the fifth participant from Mills was Emily Ward, the tournament’s singles champion. Mills students took home championship wins in both the singles and doubles tournaments.
Lisa Kelly and Kathy Jetnil, freshwomen at Mills and members of the Mills Tennis Team, won the USTA 3.0 Doubles Tournament on Sunday. They played against two women from the Oakland area for the championship title, and won two out of their three sets.
“The match was a tough three-setter against women who have been playing for many years,” said Marc Weinstein, the Mills College head tennis coach. Marc has been coaching at Mills for five years and has been coordinating USTA events like the Mills Fall Classic for four years. This was the first doubles championship win at Mills during Marc’s five years of coaching.
The first set of the doubles championship game ended in a 6-3 loss for Kelly and Jetnil.
“In the first set we were really down. I think we weren’t properly warmed up, but by the second set I wanted to win the big trophy. We started to focus more,” said Jetnil.
In the second set, Kelly and Jetnil won 6-4 and in the third set they won 6-2.
Kelly said she was very proud to win the match. “This was my first experience with tennis in a competitive college environment,” she said. “The women we played against have probably been playing as long as I’ve been alive.”
Kelly and Jetnil also participated in the USTA singles tournament. Kelly’s first singles match was won by forfeit. She lost her second singles match on Saturday.
“The singles match was fun,” said Kelly. “I never played competitive singles in high school, so this was my first time. Singles is a whole different game than doubles.”
Jetnil played her singles match against Emily Ward, a senior at Mills. Ward beat Jetnil in two sets with scores of 6-3 and 6-4.
Ward, who is a member of the Mills Cross Country Team, was the winner of the tournament’s singles championship on Saturday. Ward graduates this semester and is planning to return to Mills next fall to assist Coach Weinstein and the Mills Tennis Team.
