Fall means it’s time for the USTA 18U Junior Team Tennis National Championships, and an Atlanta-based team took home the title over the weekend.
The competition wrapped up Sunday at the USTA National Campus near Orlando, with two champions being crowned.
The Southern Reign from USTA Southern won the advanced title and the Laguna Creek Racquet Club from USTA Northern California took home the hardware in the intermediate division.
The Southern team, which captured its second consecutive national championship, is from Atlanta. The team is coached by Kerri Magee, Stephen Diaz and David Drew, and features team members Carly Briggs (Calhoun), Andrei Duarte (Atlanta), Anders Fry (Roswell), Hanna Giddings (Alpharetta), Colton Gromley (Duluth), Ava Hrastar (Duluth), Hannah Hutchings (Woodstock), Jonathan Mascagni (Alpharetta), Juliana Mascagni (Alpharetta), Brandon McKinney (Marietta), Nicholas McKinney (Marietta) and Grant Williford (Woodstock).
Captain Kerri Magee led the team through some tough competition. Magee captained five State Championship teams for Georgia at the 14’s and 18’s level along with three Southern Championship teams. This is her 3rd time competing in the JTT National level. Her 14’s team won in 2014 and again last year in 18’s Advanced. Kerri works closely with coach Stephen Diaz from SDTA and David Drew from UTA. This particular roster is often times tricky to captain and manage due to the tournament schedule of each player, not to mention the normal life of a high school student.
“Playing in the regular Atlanta season allows me to carry and qualify more players for the possibility of advancing to State, Southern and the National level,” mentioned Magee. “It maximizes match play and opportunity for our Southern-Georgia (team.)
The Georgia team features a number of players that will continue their college career by playing at the next level, in college.
The Laguna Creek Racquet Club team is from Elk Grove, Calif., and is coached by Jesse Pangilinan and Mark Fairchilds and features team members Alex Fung, Luke Gravel, Kiya Jackson, Kyla Jackson, Jeremy Schubert, Jaylynn Tan, Patrick Wall and Hallie Wilson. All of the players, with the exception of Schubert (Sacramento) are from Elk Grove.
