by Nick Howell
The Aiken Tennis Club hosted the Calhoun Witham Cup from November 2-5.
The Calhoun Witham Cup is a handicap doubles event for handicaps 35 and higher – split into two divisions. We had a great turnout this year, as 16 pairs entered the tournament. The top 8 handicaps competed in the A division, and the remaining eight competed in the B division. We had eight players from out of town play, and ten ladies compete, which was fantastic!
The Calhoun Witham Cup got underway on Thursday afternoon, with Cissie Sullivan and Francois Verglas winning with a decisive 6/0 6/2 score in the B division. The matches after that were much closer, and the crowds increased as the club hosted an Oyster Night with an open bar that evening. Nearly 100 people were at the club enjoying the tennis and the Oysters.
Friday was a full day of matches that were straight sets until the 5.00 pm match that went right down to the with Bauer Vaughters and Anwaar Spence defeating Cheryl Glance and John Shafer 6/5 in the 3rd set in front of a large crowd enjoying the match as well as the Southern BBQ and Open bar. The cocktail match saw Amy Hempt and Cheryl Marvin playing their first-ever tournament. They played amazingly and were not overawed by the crowd to win 6/0 6/3!
Saturday was moving day as teams were trying to qualify for the Semifinals. The top 2 in each group would progress to the Semifinal. The intensity certainly picked up, and matches were much closer as six matches went three sets! The day’s first match was brilliant, with the talented Kadi Meldrum, a former Div 1 college tennis player, and her partner Jerry Mount winning a good 3-set battle against Chip Marvin from Aiken and Tony Reilly from New York Racquet Club. The matches continued to be close, with five other matches going three sets! Due to so many close matches, the tournament dinner at the club was delayed by over an hour, but with an open bar, great tennis and great atmosphere, nobody seemed to mind.
The club hosted over 70 people for cocktails and dinner, which was held in the club room and the bar/bottle pool room, followed by a wonderful steak and lobster dinner. Aiken member Robert Glance organized and cooked all the food for the first three nights, and Aiken Member Tom Sargent provided the liquor. Thank you – Robert and Tom! Before dessert, Club President Michael Sullivan and Tennis Chairman Mit Carothers spoke on the history of the Witham and announced the teams that progressed.
In The A Division 1, Thad Gray/ William C Rand won the group, and Jay Hatcher and Sawyer Duncan were runners-up
A Division 2 saw a 3-way tie for 1st place between James Daly/ Maddison Daly (who have only played court tennis for six months!) Luis Rinaldini/Ezekiel Silverstein and Kadi Meldrum/ Jerry Mount, and it were Kadi and Jerry who were the unlucky pair to not go through on a countback of games won and conceded.
In B Division 1, Anwaar Spence/Bauer Vaughters seemed to like to make matches close as all 3 of their group matches went three sets. Runner-up was husband and wife duo Tom Sargent and Laurie Sargent, who played some solid tennis to qualify!
In B Division 2, Cissie Sullivan and Francois Verglas won their group, and Amy Hempt and Cheryl Marvin were the runners-up.
Sunday Morning, we got underway bright and early, with the first match at 8 am! Fortunately, the clocks had turned back an hour, so it wasn’t too bad.
Anwaar Spence and Bauer Vaughters had to give away many points to Cheryl Marvin and Amy Hempt. The guys started very well, going 3/0 up and looking comfortable before the ladies found their groove and made a comeback, but Anwaar and Bauer took the set 6/4. Amy and Cheryl, growing in confidence, played a great second set in their first-ever tournament to win 6/4. Starting the 3rd set at three-all, the guys were too strong in the end, closing out the match 6/4, but it was a brilliant performance from Amy and Cheryl.
The match set the tone for the rest of the day as five of the six matches went three sets.
Ezekiel and Luis overcame Group winners Thad and William C Rand 6/3 in the first A Division semifinal, followed by the 2nd A Division semifinal with an excellent match between Sawyer Duncan and Jay Hatcher and Maddison and James Daly. Some of the rallies and volleying in this match were unbelievable, and it’s no surprise why, with The Daly brothers and Sawyer having played Div 1 tennis. Certainly, there are some talented players to watch out for in the future.
It was Sawyer Duncan and Jay Hatcher who held their nerve, winning 6/5, 4/6, 6/4
In the last Semifinal, Cisse Sullivan and Francois Verglas were too good for Tom Sargent and Laurie Sargent, who had to give away a few points and found it challenging. 6/2, 6/2 to Cissie and Francois
After the semis, Betty Witham and her family kindly provided brunch, the wife of the late Calhoun Witham, whom the tournament is named after. Betty was in marvelous form; she later presented the trophies to the winners, and it is quite hard to believe she is 91.
The two finals were an absolute treat. Sawyer/Jay vs Ezekiel /Luis. The first set was so close, going 6/5 to Sawyer and Jay. Ezekiel And Luis fought back with strong tennis, especially the serving and took out the set 6/3. In the last set, the momentum swung in favor of Sawyer and Jay, who hardly put a foot wrong in the final set and won 6/1 to become the 2023 Calhoun Witham Cup champions! 6/5 ,3/6 ,6/1
They say save the best till last!
We had a final in the B Division, which went right to the very last point: 5-all, 40-all, and one set-all!
The last-minute pairing of Anwaar and Bauer got off to a great start with some good volleys and hard-hitting shots and won the first set 6/3. Francois Verglas and Cissie never gave up and played some of the best tennis I had seen them play. Francois was at the net, hitting great volleys, and Cissie swept up and the back, running down every ball and resulting in winning the second set. Of course, it had to be three sets with Anwaar and Bauer. They like to live on the edge! All their matches in the Witham went three sets. The final set was epic. They were not starting at 3-all like the group stages and semifinal matches but a full third set. Both teams were giving their best, trading games back and forth. Cissie and Francois went 5/4 up and had a match point but could not convert, so it was 5-all. Cissie and Francois had four match points, and they thought they had won it when Cisse hit a ball into the forehand corner on the receiver’s side that went right up against the wall for Bauer to miraculously scrape it back and win the point two shots later. Then it was 5-all 40-all, with Cissie serving to Anwaar. Cissie served a decent bobble that bounced just before the back wall, and Anwaar then let the ball bounce and hit the back wall before taking dead aim at the dedans and firing the ball straight in to win the match! 6/3, 4/6, 6/5.
It was a great four days of tennis; thank you to all the hosts, Club president Michael Sullivan, Tennis Chairman Mit Carothers, Lou Papuchado for doing the streaming, Robert and Cheryl Glance and their team for providing all the food, Tom Sargent for the drinks and Rakesh Jasani, Morgan Purvis who helped out with marking.
We hope to see more players from other clubs play here at Aiken. I have been to many clubs worldwide, and it is hard to find better hosts anywhere in the world than the members of Aiken Tennis Club.
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Jay Hatcher, Sawyer Duncan, Ezekiel Silverstein & Luis Rinaldini
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Anwaar Spence, Bauer Vaughters, Betty Witham, Francois Verglas & Cissie Sullivan
