Queens of the Court

By:

Joe De Luna, Director of Tennis and Pickleball

Photography By:

Megan Soltis

Each spring The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch Tennis Club have multiple Ladies Tennis Teams that participate in USTA (United States Tennis Association) and SAPTA (San Antonio Professional Tennis Association), and non-sanctioned leagues throughout San Antonio and the surrounding area. This year we have four teams at three different levels representing Cordillera Ranch!

Cordillera Ranch Tennis Club has a 3.0, 40 and over, USTA team (Over Served) that plays on Thursday mornings, usually at 9:30am. Over Served plays against other private clubs and some public tennis facilities across the area. The team has 18 players on their roster with Penny Benardino serving as their fearless Captain and Courtney Lambert serving as Co-Captain.

Cordillera Ranch Tennis Club also has a 3.5, 40 and over, USTA team that also plays on Thursday mornings and has 18 players on their roster. This team also competes against other private clubs and public tennis facilities in San Antonio and the surrounding area. Anne Cotner serves as Captain for this team and is unwavering in this role.

The format for this spring USTA league is one singles player and three doubles teams per match. Matches are determined by which team wins the most matches — if there is a tie then the team with the most sets won wins the match and if there is still a tie then the team that wins the most games is determined the winner. This means every game counts in determining the winning team and makes for a highly competitive format.

The team matches are played both at home and away. Teams have a weekly TEAM clinic where the Club’s Professional Tennis Staff run the teams through drills consisting of stroke production, play-based drills and match play. The clinics also consist of many discussions about court positioning, strategy and mental toughness. These are all necessary for the success of the team and the level of participation has been awesome so far this season. These leagues run from early January to late March or early April, consisting of roughly ten matches.

Anne has also volunteered to Captain another 3.5 team, which will play in the SAPTA/USPTA league on Wednesday mornings. This league will begin near the end of the USTA Thursday league in late March and will also have matches against other private clubs and public tennis facilities across the San Antonio area.

Jill Briggs is the Captain of our 4.0 Fun League team called the Spin Sisters. This league plays its matches on Friday mornings and is a non-sanctioned league that allows for fun and friendly competition for our higher-level players.

These two leagues are formatted to play four doubles matches each week.

It is so awesome to see so much ladies tennis activity at the Ranch and we hope to continue to grow. We are thankful for all of our Captains who volunteer their time to help organize these teams. The members who participate on these teams get a chance to compete in a safe and friendly environment and, most of all, build relationships with their fellow members and teammates. This helps form lifelong relationships and build camaraderie amongst our members and their competitors. I can say that Cordillera Ranch ladies tennis players are truly the Queens of the Court!

Joe De Luna is the Director of Tennis and Pickleball at The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch. He can be reached at jdeluna@cordilleraranch.com and 210.363.9004.

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