Pittsburgh Aces qualify for USTA National Championships

A team of eight local youth tennis players came together in May to compete this summer on the USTA junior circuit and they needed a name.

The group decided on calling themselves the Pittsburgh Aces and that turned out to be a perfect choice.

The Aces blitzed through local competition and then won the 14U intermediate UTSA Sectional Championship in Philadelphia in June to qualify for the USTA National Championships in October at the UTSA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

They became the first 14U intermediate team from the Allegheny Mountain District to qualify for the national championship. They’ll represent all of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware at nationals.

The six members of the team are: Ryan Moore (Pine-Richland), Caroline Prisk (Pine-Richland), Mateen Hasan (Pine-Richland), Will Bojalad (Sewickley Academy), Capri Butera (Archangel Gabriel Catholic School in McKees Rocks), Haley Hundley (Chestnut Ridge), Meriwether McCargo (Aquinas Academy) and Advaita Sircar (North Allegheny). Most of the players are 13 or 14 years old, but Butera is only 10.

It didn’t take long for them to mesh as the team formed in May and was playing in a local qualifier just a couple weeks later.

“It was pretty amazing,” Aces coach Samantha Hundley said. “Going through qualifiers and then sectionals was a great experience for all the kids. They really had a great time.”

The Aces won the Allegheny Mountain District qualifier at Bethel Park, which clinched a spot at sectionals in Philadelphia.

At sectionals they played against teams from Philadelphia, Delaware, New Jersey and Hempfield (District 3).

The matches consisted of boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles and mixed doubles.

The Aces scored 91 points on the day, well ahead of second place, which had 71 points.

“They won all of their matches at sectionals and played great,” Hundley said. “They are so excited for Florida.”

Playing in the UTSA junior league gave each member of the Aces an opportunity to play on a team in what is otherwise a mostly individual sport. Hundley feels being on a team will be beneficial to each player as they get older.

“It was a good team-bonding experience for them, because they mostly play in singles tournaments only at this age or maybe an occasional doubles tournament,” Hundley said. “They get that team aspect, which is something they don’t typically get until high school. It’s nice for them to have that opportunity before they go to high school.”

The team has been meeting once a week to train together and will continue to do so until they depart for Florida in October. They’ll play at the home of the United States Tennis Association’s home base, which opened in 2016.

“We’re still waiting on our schedule, but we just want the kids to go down there, have a good time, compete as hard as they can and do their best,” Hundley said. “I think they’ll do well, because we have a pretty strong team.”