The Columbus 3.0 Court Assassins hope to have their killer instincts ready for the tennis courts when they begin play this morning at the National World Team Tennis championships in Indian Wells, Calif. The tournament runs through Sunday.
The site is the same as the pro circuit Indian Wells Masters tournament played in March.
The Columbus team achieved the honor of competing in the national tournament by winning the sectional championship in Bradenton, Fla., in the spring. Derick Pugh is the captain of the eight-player team.
“I came up with the name for the team to hopefully be intimidating and still be focused on tennis,” Pugh said.
The Court Assassins will play their first-round match today at noon against a team from Minnesota.
Members of the Columbus team and their hometowns are Pugh (Phenix City), Eric Funderburk (Phenix City), Max Patrick (Columbus) and Adam Beatty, (Columbus) for the men. The women’on the team are Carol Jenkins (formerly from Columbus, now in Chattanooga), Dalma Bogan (Columbus), Eddie James (Columbus) and Kathy Wilson (Chattanooga).
Chris Smalls for the men and Kim Jeffers for the women were also on the sectional championship team but were unable to make this trip.
“We are excited to be here, and it really is a great facility,” Pugh said. “Our team did well in the sectionals, and we hope that carries over.”
After Friday, the Court Assassins will play twice Saturday: at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. That will set the team’s seeding for the semifinals to be played Sunday, so the team is guaranteed four matches.
“We hope that we will be playing five matches,” Pugh said of the tournament.
World Team Tennis rules are different from regular league play. Each team must play no ad scoring and no lets on serve. If tied at four points each at the end of the game, the next point is sudden death.
Each team match has one men’s and women’s singles match, one men’s and women’s doubles match and two mixed doubles matches.
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