BY: Dan Pryser/USTA

The Austin Tennis Academy, representing the USTA Texas Section, swept the 2019 USTA Junior Team Tennis 18U National Championships, capturing both the advanced and intermediate national titles. The event was held at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio, Nov. 14-17.

The 2019 USTA Junior Team Tennis 18U National Championships brought together the top 32 teams at intermediate and advanced levels from various USTA Sections throughout the country.

Both Austin teams won their respective pools to advance to the national semifinals, where they cruised to the championship matches. In the advanced final, the Austin team knocked off a team from Los Angeles, 59-24, while the other Austin team defeated a team from Potomac, Md., 52-36, in the intermediate final.

This is the second consecutive year that both 18U Austin Tennis Academy teams reached the finals, as the advanced team secured back-to-back national titles while the intermediate team improved upon last year’s national runner-up finish.

The advanced team is coached by Brian Notis and features team members: Juandedios Abboud, James Cockrell, Anushka Dania, Megha Dania, Nico Jamison, Lawrence Li, and Caroline Wernli.

The intermediate team is coached by John Schoenmakers and features team members: Austin Beckham, Alexandra Malysheva, Keana Moon, Kael Peterson, Jordan Phillips, Jonathan Snell, Clark Sweeney, and Sydney Williams.

Established in 1991, USTA Junior Team Tennis provides youth with all of the health and social benefits of tennis in a coed, fun and competitive team environment – all while allowing participants to compete with and against individuals of similar ages and skill levels.

With more than 85,000 players competing nationwide, USTA Junior Team Tennis brings players together to enjoy camaraderie and teamwork, providing a  fun environment for kids to learn that succeeding is really more about how they play the game – win or lose.