Published: June 28, 2008 07:05 pm      

A great tradition: For many players, the Corsicana Summer Open is where their careers began

For Natalie Holmes the Corsicana Summer Open is sort of a tradition.

“This is the tournament we all grow up playing in,” she said. “This was my first tennis tournament I ever played in and the first I ever won a trophy.

“There are always pretty good players in this tournament and its a lot of fun. I plan on playing for many years to come.”

Holmes, a 2007 graduate of Corsicana High School, spent this last year as a freshman walk-on for the Baylor University tennis team.

In the fall season, Holmes won three qualifying matches at the ITA Southwest Regional Tournament and earned a bid to the main draw.

In the spring season, Holmes was a part of the Lady Bears’ national semifinalist team.

Despite the accomplishments, Holmes said she isn’t returning to Balyor’s tennis team in the fall.

Saturday, however, Holmes returned to the court at the Corsicana Summer Open and played with a partner she hadn’t played with since her sophomore year — Laura Penney.

Holmes and Penney lost their first round match in a two-hour marathon, but both said it was a lot of fun.

“This is the first time I have played in a year,” Penney said laughing. “We did our best though, it just didn’t work out.”

Like Holmes and Penny, there are several stories similar.

Richard Abel, a 2008 graduate of Corsicana High School, has played in the tournament for many years.

He said its that tradition that keeps him coming back, but this year he had a little motivation.

“I was hoping to play against coach (Jason) White,” Abel said, “but he didn’t play in it this year.”

Abel, along with several other Tigers tennis players and Alex Layfield, of Kerens, decided to pass on playing in their age-specific draws and play in the men’s open singles.

“The competition level is a little better,” Layfield said of why he chose to play in the men’s open draw.

Layfield player a quarterfinal match Saturday afternoon against Abel.

After Abel took the first set, Layfield rallied and won the final two sets to advance to the semifinals where he will play the No. 1 seed Andrew Petty at 8 a.m. today.

“Every time I play Richard we always go into a third set tie-breaker,” Layfield said.

Nick Tafacory, another Tigers tennis player playing in the men’s open draw, pulled off an upset in his quarterfinal match.

Tafacory defeated the No. 2 seed Danny Campbell, after falling into a 3-0 hole in the final set.

Tafacory won six-straight games to win the match.

“Someone told me he’s ranked like No. 30 or something,” Tafacory said. “That’s the competition level we all want to see because it makes us better.”