The Lake Oconee Tennis Association (LOTA) Women’s 4.0 tennis team took top honors in the 55+ division at the 2023 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Georgia State Championships in Columbus.

Over the June 9-12 weekend the team, captained by Debbie Ivey, emerged victorious over a field of 15 teams from across Georgia competing at the Cooper Creek Tennis Center. 

Seeded fourth in the four team finals, LOTA defeated the No. 1 seed from USTA Atlanta. Then they knocked out the No. 2 seed from the North Georgia Tennis Association (NOGTA) in Dalton to win the tournament. 

Captain Ivey said she was very proud of how her team performed given the strength of the competition.

“As it turned out we faced some of the toughest teams in the state during the qualifying rounds. This ended up being to our advantage, preparing us for the semi’s and the finals.”

The winners were one of six teams of players from Reynolds Lake Oconee competing at various levels in the state championships held over three weekends in late May and early June.

Also competing at the Women’s 4.0 (55+) level was a second LOTA team captained by Brenda Bray. 

In the 3.5 competition, LOTA fielded a 55+ team led by captain Liz Hiatt.

At the level 3.5 (40+) Championships June 2-5, the Clark Oconee Tennis Association (COTA) fielded a Reynolds Women’s team under co-captains Jennie Deming and Jeanne Mosakowski and a Men’s team headed by co-captains Rick Leighton and Scott Hein. 

Another Reynolds team, playing for COTA, the Women’s 3.0 (18+) team led by co-captains Holly Beaubien and Laney Dickey played in the State Championships held in Macon May 19-22.

USTA is the national governing body for tennis and sanctions tennis leagues and tournaments for its more than 600,000 members across the county. LOTA is the USTA chapter serving the Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair area. For more information visit www.LOTAtennis.com.