Essex PTC wins the first Women’s Big Paddle

March 28, 2022
Hartford, CT

Tournament Director Geoff Cartier writes: On Sunday, March 27th, the women from the Essex Platform Tennis Club (Essex, CT) won the inaugural Women's Big Paddle at the Hartford Golf Club in thrilling fashion. Essex needed four out of five wins in their final match of the day against the second place team from the COMO in Stonington, CT.

They accomplished this when the #1 team of Trish Griggs and Hilary Meyers won back-to-back tiebreakers, in the second set and a third-set super-breaker, to seal the deal. Essex was also led by undefeated play from their #4 team of Wendy Flynn and Julia Rathkey and #5 team of Caroline Gold and Diana Fiske. The team was rounded out by Casey O'Brien and Kristi Poehlmann who went 2-1 at #3 and Eileen Stirling and Kristy White who played at #2.

The Big Paddle is a longstanding tradition in Region 2. The interclub competition between Essex, the Longmeadow Field Club (Longmeadow, MA), the COMO, and the Hartford Golf Club, included women almost 20 years ago. But this was the first time that the women from these clubs had their own chance to claim the paddle.

It resulted in a day of high-level play and a lot of catching up with friends old and new.

The APTA thanks Director of Racquets Dave Marshall and Hartford Golf Club for hosting and to all the competitors for a great event.