Volynets tops Ma in all-Bay Area USTA National 18 QF

Katie Volynets, shown Thursday, beat Connie Ma in an all-San Francisco Bay Area quarterfinal in the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego, Photo courtesy of JFS Communications

   In an all-San Francisco Bay Area quarterfinal, second-seeded Katie Volynets, 17, of Walnut Creek beat fifth-seeded Connie Ma, 16, of Dublin 7-6 (1), 6-1 today in the USTA Girls 18 National Championships in San Diego.
   Walnut Creek and Dublin are 18 miles (29 kilometers) apart on Interstate 680 in the East Bay.
   Volynets is scheduled to play 13th-seeded Katrina Scott, 15, of Woodland Hills in the Los Angeles area on Saturday. Scott eliminated 10th-seeded Elli Mandlik, the daughter of International Tennis Hall of Famer Hana Mandlikova and a resident of Bradenton, Fla., 7-6 (5), 6-3.
   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Hailey Baptiste of Washington, D.C., will face third-seeded Emma Navarro of Charleston, S.C.
   In the girls 16 semifinals in San Diego, 14th-seeded Reese Brantmeier of Whitewater, Wis., topped second-seeded Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
   The girls 12 doubles final in Alpharetta, Ga., will feature top-seeded Haylee Conway of Bellevue, Wash., and Aspen Schuman of Menlo Park in the Bay Area against fifth-seeded Kate Fakih of Arcadia in the Los Angeles region and Victoria Osuigwe of Bradenton 6-4, 6-3.
   Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Aidan Mayo, a resident of Torrance in the Los Angeles area who grew up in the Sacramento suburb of Roseville, beat ninth-seeded Victor Lilov of Raleigh, N.C., 6-4, 6-4 in the boys 16 quarterfinals in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Mayo will play 19th-seeded Alex Finkelstein of Raynham, Mass. Finkelstein upset second-seeded Luke Casper of Santa Cruz 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2.
   In the other semifinal, top-seeded Alexander Bernard of Bonita Springs, Fla., will meet seventh-seeded Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Fla. Bernard beat 32nd-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose 6-1, 6-4.
   A Northern Californian is guaranteed to reach the boys 16 doubles final, as seventh-seeded Hashimoto and Benjamin Kittay of Potomac, Md., will face 13th-seeded Casper and Jameson Corsillo of Boca Raton, Fla.
   Sixth-seeded Dylan Tsoi of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento region and Alexander Razeghi of Humble, Texas, won the boys 14 doubles title in Mobile, Ala.  They routed fifth-seeded James Lian of Parsippany, N.J., and Nicholas Mangiapane of Davidson, N.C., 6-1, 6-1.