Racquet Rebels: Barbara Sewell, Sande Rittenhouse, Linda Gayer and Ann Misner
Men’s Desert Cactus League champions
The Desert Cactus Tennis League began competitive play among area communities in January 2013, completing its third year in March 2015. The communities of Sun City Anthem at Merrill Ranch, Province of Maricopa, Mission Royale in Casa Grande and Robson Ranch in Eloy all compete in this league. Teams consist of player combination ratings of 6.5/7.0 with men competing on Wednesdays, women on Thursdays and mixed doubles on Saturdays. All matches begin play at 2:00 p.m. with the home team providing tennis balls and water. The women’s doubles and mixed doubles played six matches. One is a home match; the other an away match against each team. The men’s doubles had one additional team, giving them a few more weeks of competitive play.
The scores were very close this season! The women’s team, The Racquet Rebels, needed to win at least one of the courts in the last match of the season in order to maintain a first-place finish, but the men’s team, Robson Ranch, needed to win both courts in order to maintain a first-place finish. On the final day of competition, both of our home teams played against the second-place team; fortunately, both were victorious and finished 2015 League Champions. The women’s team was captained by Linda Gayer, and the men’s team captained by Mel Davis. Congratulations to both teams for their first-place awards!
The mixed doubles team, captained by Barbara Sewell, also played very well against strong teams from all the communities. The scores were quite close in this division as well; only a few points separated the four teams. However, the Mission Royale team proved to be a strong one. Double Trouble from Robson Ranch took 2015 Finalist award with Mission Royale receiving 2015 Champions! Congratulations to both teams.
A special thanks goes to the Desert Cactus League Director, Orly Mayron, for her hard work and dedication to this league. Players from each community look forward to the 2016 tennis season!