LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Locals Rally Against Competition at Stead Open By Guy Dotan


Alex Poorta

For 26 years the Moraga Country Club (MCC) has hosted a tennis tournament and over that time the event has grown in prestige. The tournament began in 1983 with $2000 in prize money. Three years later Stead Motors became the major sponsor and the prize money increased to $25,000. With acknowledgement from major tennis magazines, the Stead Open has dramatically increased professional atheletes’ interest.
While the tournament hosts many professional athletes it is unique in the fact that local athletes are welcome as well. MCC’s Mark Orwig, the tournament director, stated, “What makes this tournament special is that it gives the opportunity for the local players to compete alongside many different levels of experience. Collegiate players, players looking to go pro[fessional], and professional players all get to compete for the prize money while the locals have the chance of a lifetime to go up against some of the best in the country.”
This year many local players competed at the Stead Open. Some of the local players and Diablo Foothills Athletetic League (DFAL) graduates included Tyler Browne (Las Lomas and Cal assistant coach), Nick Ballou (Campolindo), John Karsant (Acalanes), Ellie Faulkner (Campolindo and University of San Diego) Chris Rasmussen (Miramonte and Stanford), Alan Shin (Dublin) Evan Rose (Campolindo and Cal), Tony Franco (Campolindo), Sean Peterson (Campolindo), among others.
The tournament came to an end on Sunday, August 9 and the results are as follows: men’s singles (2) Brad Weston defeated (3) Chris Wettengel 6-3, 6-2; women’s singles (9) Ellen Tsay defeated (9) Aerial Ellis 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-2; men’s open doubles (5) Tyler Browne and Geoffrey Chizever defeated Gregory Hirshman and Richard Wire 6-4, 6-3; women’s doubles (1) Kristen Schlukebir and Romana Tedjakusuma defeated (4) Suzanne Matzenauer and Alex Poorta 6-3, 6-4; mixed doubles (5) Eric Roberson and Yasmin Schnack defeated (4) Tyler Browne and Zsuzsanna Fodor 6-2, 7-6(3).
Some of the local players did exceedingly well. Ballou made it to the third round in singles. The Campolindo and Acalanes alumni doubles team of Karsant and Franco made it to the second round. Browne made it to the fourth round in singles, won the doubles, and got second place in mixed. Browne said, “I played better than I thought I would. For me, singles is more about having fun. But doubles and mixed, I had high hopes. I know we could do well but you never know at events like this how tough the competition will be.” Browne has played in this tournament for six years and said, “This is a great tournament. Mark puts on a great event. It’s nice to be the local kid and there is so much community support. It’s great to play in front of people who are there for tennis.”
For many of the local players winning is not what is important. Two competitors, Jake Peiros and Tim Quock, both graduates of Campolindo, entered the men's doubles and were matched-up against Franco and Karsant. The match was a blowout, Karsant and Franco won 6-0, 6-0. After the match, however, Peiros was not disgruntled about the loss. He said the Stead Open is a great opportunity to see, “…how we stack up against the more experienced players.”