US Open National Playoffs Update; UCLA's Anderson Wins Honda Award for Tennis

The sectional playoffs for the US Open qualifying wild card in men's and women's singles and a main draw wild card in mixed doubles began last month, but with the NCAAs and the French Open, I haven't had time to post about them until now.

Three of the 13 sectional competitions have been completed: Southwest, which ended May 20, Mid-Atlantic, which ended June 3, and Southern California, which wrapped up today.

Former Arizona State All-American Jacqueline Cako won the women's tournament and the mixed doubles tournament in the Southwest sectional qualifying. Cako defeated 16-year-old Savannah Slaysman in the final via a walkover, with Slaysman unable to compete due to illness.   Former University of Minnesota player Chris Wettengel won the men's singles tournament, beating Joel Kielbowicz(UNLV)  6-1, 6-0 in the final.  Cake and Kielbowicz won the mixed doubles with a  6-0, 7-6(3) victory over Carol Finke and Brett Morse-Karzen.

In the Mid-Atlantic tournament, Skylar Morton, who played at UCLA from 2011-2013, won her second women's title, beating Nika Kukharchuk 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the final.  Former Dartmouth player Alexander Centenari won the men's tournament, beating South Carolina freshman Harrison O'Keefe 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 in the final.  In the mixed doubles competition, Jessica Keener and Matt Stillwagon advanced to the national playoffs with a  6-4, 6-2 win over Sydney Rider and Shane Monroe.

For reasons that continue to elude me, the Southern California section always features small draws and this year, the fifth of the competition, was no exception.  Duke freshman Dan McCall won the men's title in a 21-player draw, beating former St. John's player Dustin Goldenberg 6-1, 6-4 in the final.  Fifteen-year-old Kelly Chen won the women's draw in a 18-player draw, beating USC junior Zoe Scandalis 6-4 6-3 in the final.  USC Associate women's coach West Nott and senior Kaitlyn Christian won the mixed doubles title in a draw with seven teams.  Nott and Christian defeated Pam Montez and Andrew Scorteanu 6-1, 6-1 in the final. 

The men's and women's singles winners will compete in the National Playoffs in New Haven, Connecticut August 15-18.  The mixed doubles nationals are August 19-22, also at Yale.

The Eastern section's tournament is winding down, and New England's tournament has just begun.  Only one tournament is still open to entries--the Southern section's deadline is tomorrow.  For links to all the TennisLink sites, see this page.  For more on the completed events, see this page.

The Honda Award, given annually to women in 12 collegiate sports, went this year to UCLA's Robin Anderson, the Most Outstanding Player of this year's NCAA team championships.  Anderson was selected as the tennis winner over finalists Danielle Collins of Virginia, Jamie Loeb of North Carolina and Lynn Chi of Cal.  For more on Anderson's award, see the UCLA website.