LITM Challenge Event Series Hits Cold Spring Country Club

The second Long Island Tennis Magazine Challenge of 2023 brought Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles teams together on a steamy Saturday afternoon on the courts of Cold Spring Country Club in Huntington.

“This was a great opportunity for our club to host this special event, and our  members had very positive things to say about how everything went, including the level of tennis they were able to show on the courts,” said Strate Krstevski, the Director of Tennis at Cold Spring Country Club. “We were very happy that a lot of our members participated in the event, and had a chance to compete against players from other clubs as well.”

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE JULY 29 LITM CHALLENGE

The tournament was open to both club members and non-members, many of whom had never competed against one another before. While the competition heated up on the six beautiful Har-Tru courts, off the court there was a social atmosphere, including catered breakfast in the morning, and pizza, pasta, salad and more for lunch in the afternoon, as well as mimosas, sangria and more to keep the event fun and loose.

The morning session played host to two divisions, the Men’s 7.0 – 7.5 division and the Women’s 7.0 – 7.5 division.

Dunja Froman & Rosalyn Beswick used their chemistry and experience playing together as a doubles team to claim the title in the Women’s 7.0 -7.5 division.

“We started playing together last season, and this is our eighth straight win together,” said Froman. “Playing with Ros is always fun, because I know she has my back, and having that trust in your partner is key.”

While Froman has competed in LITM Challenge events before, this was Beswick’s first time, and she embraced the uniqueness of the tournament.

“When she invited me to play I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe’,” she said. “But it was an incredible event. The food and drinks were great, it was a fun time, and being able to win made it that much better.”

In the Men’s 7.0 – 7.5 combined division, the duo of Ben Gonson & Richy Lituchi used their experience as Cold Spring Country Club members to claim the championship.

“We’ve been playing together for a few years so we know each other’s games and the strengths and weakness that we have,” said Ben Gonson. “It was a great day.”

As the morning turned to afternoon, two new divisions got underway as the day’s second session featured the Men’s 8.0 – 8.5 combined division and the Women’s 8.0 – 8.5 division.

Tanya Kotov & Michelle Craddock played their best tennis in the championship match to walk away victorious in the Women’s 8.0 – 8.5 division and claim the title.

“This was our first time playing together, and it was so much fun,” said Craddock. “This event was great. The matches went quick so you got to play a lot of tennis against a lot of other teams so it was a really fun day.”

Another Cold Spring Country Club member duo, Brian Katz & Lyle Mahler, maintained a consistent level of play throughout the tournament, especially in the finals, to earn the championship in the Men’s 8.0 – 8.5 combined division.

“We tried to be as consistent as possible. We held serve when we needed to which puts pressure on the other team and that’s a good recipe to win matches,” said Mahler.

Katz added:

“We play a lot of doubles together here at the club, and we are consistent and putting balls back in play, we tend to do pretty well. We kept our unforced errors down today and that helped.”

The LITM Challenge combines great competition on the court with a festive environment off the court, and that was on full display at Cold Spring Country Club.

“The event was organized really well, and all the players that were in created a positive atmosphere both on and off the court,” added Krstevski. “We are happy as a club to have our members win both of the men’s events, and had a strong showing on the women’s side as well.”

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE JULY 29 LITM CHALLENGE

The LITM Challenge Series will continue on Saturday, September 9 with a Men’s and Women’s Doubles event at Sportime Quogue.

“We were proud to host yet another Long Island Tennis Magazine Challenge event, and were thrilled to be able to bring the event series to a new site in Cold Spring Country Club,” said co-tournament director David Sickmen. “Cold Spring CC was an incredible host site, and the staff did a great job of making sure everything operated smoothly. We heard about all the great work Strate was doing in his first year as Director and we saw that on full display at this tournament. We share the similar vision of putting on professionally-run events, so the collaboration was a no-brainer. Everything ran right on time, and we know how events such as these with multiple levels of players combined with a fun atmosphere keeps the players coming back for more tennis. I want to thank my co-tournament director Michelle Stoerback for providing all of her tournament expertise, and thank our event sponsors OSIM and SassyLI, who provided raffle prizes.  We look forward to our next LITM Challenge event on Saturday, September 9 at Sportime Quogue.”