Full Recap of Midwest Qualifying for US Open National Playoffs; Update on Other Sections

My Tennis Recruiting Network article on the recent Midwest sectional qualifying for the US Open National Playoffs is now up. I must once again thank my editor at Tennis Recruiting for allowing me to choose what stories I write; it allows me to broaden my tennis horizons by traveling to new places and meeting new people. I try to pursue stories I think will be interesting to the juniors and college coaches and players who make up most of TRNet's audience, but this event offered no such guarantees. The fact that Kentucky's Eric Quigley had entered again took some of the anxiety out of it, and as it happened there turned out to be many current and former college players in the draw. But I think there is still a need to promote awareness among juniors and college players of this opportunity, although I do recognize it is expensive if you can't commute to the site daily (and I have the hotel bills to prove it.)

As I mention at the end of the article, there is still time to enter the Southern section's qualifying tournament, which will be held July 1-6 at the Windward Lake Club in Alpharetta, Ga. Entries close June 20. See the TennisLink site for more details.

Juniors and college players have done very well in the sectional qualifying that has been completed. Skylar Morton defeated Spencer Liang in the final of the Mid-Atlantic qualifying and also won the mixed doubles with Virginia Tech's Patrick Daciek. Former Elon player Damon Gooch won the men's qualifying. For more on that see the section's article. Sixteen-year-old Caroline Dailey won the women's event at the Florida qualifying. 2010 UCLA graduate Yasmin Schnack collected the women's title and the mixed (with Eric Roberson) in the Northern California tournament, with former Minnesota standout Chris Wettengel defending his men's title. Last year's men's national winner, Blake Strode, won the men's and mixed (with Whitney Jones) in the New England section, with former Harvard player Lena Litvak taking the women's title. Former USC Trojan Maureen Diaz won the Hawaii-Pacific women's title and the mixed (with Erik Nelson-Kortland). Angelo Niculescu, who played at the University of South Carolina, won the men's Hawaii-Pacific event, after having won the Pacific Northwest tournament last year.

Complete results can be found here and by clicking on the section links, you can go to the TennisLink sites for the draws and results of the tournaments, or to see who has entered in the upcoming ones. The Northern section has former Virginia star Treat Huey pairing with former William and Mary standout Megan Moulton-Levy in the mixed. Both are currently playing on their respective professional tours right now, but are not relying on getting in on their own rankings.