Some of the Jammers traveled to Bentonville AR on June 1 –
June 3 to play in the Spam Slam Tournament.
I believe it is called the Spam Slam because Spam is the major sponsor
for the tournament. Kelly Kramer and
Teresa Emerson have been to this tournament for the last few years and think it
is the best tennis tournament ever. We
took their words for it and decided to join them this year.
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| Our Goody Bag |
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| Inside Our Goody Bag |
Friday June 1: We all
left for Bentonville on Friday afternoon, none of us have to play on Friday
evening except for Hee-Sun Kim. When we
arrived in Bentonville, Teresa Emerson, Kelly Kramer, Nancy Winters, Debbie
O’Reilly and I decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to have some wings and beers
before heading out to the court to see Hee-Sun play her 8:00 PM match.
It was a perfect night to play tennis. It must have rain earlier since they had a
delay on Hee-Sun’s match and instead of playing best out of 3 sets; they had to
do the 8-game pro set. Hee-Sun had no
problem at all against her opponent; she beats Paula Kaufmann with the score of
8-4.
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| Hee-Sun Kim |
Saturday Morning, June 2:
It was a busy day for all of us.
Nancy has an early singles match at 8:00 AM. Teresa/Kelly, Hee-Sun/Margaret Taylor, and
Karen Griffin/Julie Warren all have their doubles matches at 9:00 AM. Debbie and I didn’t have to play until that
afternoon at 4:30 PM.
It was a tough first match for everyone. Nancy fought hard but come up short; she lost
in two sets to Emily Espinosa 6-3, 6-4.
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| Nancy Winters |
Our doubles team of Teresa/Kelly, in the Round of 16, it was
a dog fight in the first set for sure, and they managed to beat their opponent
Paige Doyle and Julie Fackler 7-5. And
then they breeze through the second set with the score of 6-2, which earned
them a spot in the Quarter Finals.
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| Teresa Emerson and Kelly Kramer after their win in the Round of 16, with their opponents - Paige Doyle and Julie Fackler. |
The team doctors of Hee-Sun Kim and Margaret Taylor had a
tough match in the Round of 16. They
played the mother and daughter team. Hee-Sun
and Margaret played hard but lost in the first set 6-4. They fought back and won the second set
7-5. The mother and daughter team,
Kathryn Kalinowski and Patricia Moberley hold their ground and come back to
beat our team in third set tie-break.
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| Margaret Taylor and Hee-Sun Kim |
Our third doubles team of Julie Warren and Karen Griffin had
an even tougher time in their Round of 16.
They were playing the #2 seed team of Jennifer Goodson and Gabriela
Hendricks. They lost in two sets with
the scores of 6-1, 6-4.
Saturday Afternoon, June 2:
In the Quarter Finals, Teresa and Kelly had to face the mother and
daughter team, Kathryn Kalinowski and Patricia Moberley. It was an unbelievable match. Teresa and Kelly lost in the first set 5-7. At this point Teresa was a little upset with
the way the mother been calling some of the line calls. So with some words of encouragement from one
of her teammate, Nancy, Teresa was able to remain calm and win the next set in
a tie-break 7-6. They have nothing to
lose, and was way behind in the third set tie-break, both Teresa and Kelly
fought hard. With a lot of determination
to win, and a little ticked off at their opponent, they pulled it together and
come back to win the match. They earned
a spot in the Semifinals.
That afternoon, Hee-Sun and Maggie played the team that
Teresa and Kelly had played in the morning, the team of Paige Doyle and Julie
Fackler. It was a great match between
the two teams. The odds were in our
favor that day, Hee-Sun and Maggie come out victorious with the scores of 6-4,
7-5. They are in the Semifinals of the
consolation bracket.
After winning her doubles match, Hee-Sun had to go over and
played her singles match against Emily Espinosa. It was a long match for Hee-Sun, but that’s
what we expect from all of Hee-Sun’s matches.
She likes to keep her opponent on the court as long as she can. After what it seems like forever, Hee-Sun won
her match with the scores of 6-2, 6-7, 1-0, which earn her a spot in the
Finals.
The Jammers were on a roll that afternoon. Nancy also played her singles match in the
consolation bracket that afternoon. She
dominate over her opponent, Paula Kaufmann, with the scores of 6-0, 6-0 to earn
a spot in the finals in the consolation bracket.
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| Debbie and I are still waiting for our match to begin |
Everyone had played two matches and was done for the
day. Debbie and I finally get around
playing our first match. We must have
been sitting around too long all day because our match didn’t go quite as well
as we expected. We both felt like it was
the weirdest match we have ever played.
We lost to our opponent, Barbara Johnson and Sandy Stursma, 6-2,
6-0.
Sunday, June 3: It
rain the night before and into the morning, so there was more rain delay this
morning. This is it, the final day of
the Spam Slam tournament. Our morning
match starts out with Hee-Sun singles match in the Finals. It doesn’t seem like Hee-Sun had any trouble
at all with her match. She blasted her
opponent, Rebecca Darding, and won the 3.5 singles title with the scores of
6-0, 6-3.
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| Hee-Sun Kim - 1st Place Women's 3.5 Singles (Hee-Sun didn't keep her winning towel, she gave it to me. She said i have inspired her to win that final match. Awww, isn't that nice of her?) |
While Hee-Sun was playing her match, Nancy, Debbie and I
went and play our next match. Nancy
played the #1 seed, Monica Weigle, though she played hard, Nancy couldn’t come
up with a win, she lost with the score of 8-5.
Debbie and I played our Quarterfinals match in the
consolation bracket against Billie Hendren and Bev Unis. We felt better about this match then the one
we played on Saturday. We won with the
score of 8-2 and a spot in the Semifinals of the consolation bracket.
After Hee-Sun won her singles match, she team up with Maggie
again to play their doubles match against Amy Anderson and Jacqueline
Shearman. It was a very close match, but
they came through one more time with a win of 9-7 and a spot in the Finals of
the consolation bracket.
Once Debbie and I won our match against Billie and Bev, we
went on to play our next match against a sister’s team of Kelli Wineman and
Mary Wolf. I think it was one of the
best matches we played that weekend. We
lost 8-5, but I think we played well, no regrets of any kind.
Back at the Walton Life Fitness Center, Kelly and Teresa
were battling it out in their Semifinals match against their opponents, Ann
Lindsey and Melanie Whitehead. It was an
even match, no one made any mistakes, and it could have gone either way. But our Jammer girls pull it through one more
time with a win of 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 and a spot in the Finals.
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| Teresa Emerson and Kelly Kramer - 1st Place Women's 3.5 Doubles |
Long day and long weekend for all the Jammers, but happy
endings for the team. We came, we
played, and we conquered. What more can
we ask for?
This is definitely the best tournament we've been to. They feed us all day long, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus all kinds of snacks. We all will be back next year!
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| Debbie O'Reilly and Kelly Kramer watching Hee-Sun & Maggie's match |
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| Karen Griffin & Teresa Emerson - just hanging out |
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| Huong Doan & Debbie O'Reilly |
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| Kelly Kramer, Margaret Taylor, Hee-Sun Kim, Teresa Emerson, Julie Warren (I think Hee-Sun is in love with the Spam Man) |
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| Debbie won this blanket in the door prize drawing...and no, she didn't give it to me, she kept it for herself. |
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I did made it home with this banner, and NO, I did not steal it! |
RECAP
OF THE SPAM SLAM:
NTRP
Women’s 3.5 Doubles:
Finals: Teresa Emerson/Kelly Kramer d. Penny
Holland/Tammy Waddell 6-2; 7-5
Semifinals: Teresa Emerson/Kelly Kramer d. Ann
Lindsey/Melanie Whitehead 6-4; 4-6; 1-0
Quarterfinals: Teresa Emerson/Kelly Kramer d.
Kathryn Kalinowski/Patricia Moberley 5-7;
7-6; 1-0
Round of
16: Teresa Emerson/Kelly Kramer d. Paige
Doyle/Julie Fackler 7 -5; 6-2
Kathryn
Kalinowski/Patricia Moberley d. Hee-Sun Kim/ Margaret Taylor 6-4;
5-7; 1-0
Jennifer
Goodson/Gabriela Hendricks d. Julie
Warren/Karen Griffin 6-1; 6-4
Consolation:
Finals: Amanda
Madrid/Tabitha Watkins d. Hee-Sun Kim/Margaret Taylor 8-6
Semifinals: Hee-Sun
Kim/Margaret Taylor d Amy
Anderson/Jacqueline Shearman 9-7
Quarterfinals:
Hee-Sun Kim/Margaret Taylor d. Paige Doyle/Julie Fackler 6-4; 7-5
NTRP
Women’s 3.5 Singles:
Finals: Hee-Sun Kim
d. Rebecca Darding 6-0; 6-3
Semifinals: Hee-Sun
Kim d. Emily Espinosa 6-2; 6-7; 1-0
Quarterfinals:
Hee-Sun Kim d. Paula Kaufmann 8-4
Emily Espinosa d. Nancy Winters 6-3; 6-4
Consolation:
Finals: Monica Weigle
(1) d. Nancy Winters 8-5
Quarterfinals: Nancy
Winters d. Paula Kaufmann 6-0; 6-0
NTRP
Women’s 4.0 Doubles:
Quarterfinals: Barbara Johnson/Sandy Stursma d. Huong
Doan/Debbie O’Reilly 6-2; 6-0
Consolation:
Semifinals: Kelli
Wineman/Mary Wolf d. Huong Doan/ Debbie O’Reilly 8-5
Quarterfinals: Huong
Doan/Debbie O’Reilly d. Billie Hendren/Bev Unis 8-2
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