Nate and Lexi Miller, Parent/Child Doubles Champions
Submitted Photo
NEW PALESTINE — The inaugural New Palestine Open tennis tournament was played July 18-21 at New Palestine High School.
The event, which served as a fundraiser for the New Palestine High School tennis programs, brought together people from the town and surrounding communities for the four-day event. Going forward, it is planned to be an annual event each July.
“It was good. We had strong participation from the middle school and high school teams along with tennis players from the community, which is what we wanted,” tournament planner Ricky Ritter said. “Overall, we were pleased.”
Participants of all ages took part in the event, which offered five divisions to compete in. Those included men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and parent/child doubles.
In total, 41 participants ranging in age from 12 years old to people in their 60s filled up the five divisions, with the most popular being the men’s singles division, which had a total of 13 athletes filling up the bracket.
All competitors were guaranteed two matches, with the first round beginning on Thursday and the finals taking place on Sunday.
“Everyone got at least two matches,” Ritter said. “If you lost your first match, we made sure to have a back draw that was another full tournament.”
The men’s singles division was won by Greenfield’s Max Holtzclaw, while the women’s singles division was won by New Palestine’s Lori McPike.
Holtzclaw and McPike also took first place in their respective doubles divisions.
In the men’s doubles, Holtzclaw was part of the winning team with New Palestine’s Stratton Smith, and in the women’s doubles, McPike won with her sister Lisa Lindsey.
The parent/child doubles division was won by New Palestine’s Lexi and Nate Miller.
