Selma tennis team wins title

Published 9:10 am Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Serving up a win: A team from Selma recently won the 6.0 mixed doubles Alabama state championship at a tournament in Dothan. Members of the team are, from left, Michelle Jones, captain; William Free, Neil Sherrer, Mike Oslund, A.C. Reeves, Julius Talton, and Ruth Talton. Not shown is team coach Baxter Stinson.

A team from Selma won the 6.0 mixed doubles state tennis championship at the Alabama Mixed Doubles Championships in Dothan recently. The team from Selma defeated Dothan, Gulf Shores, Huntsville, Montgomery and Birmingham in winning the championship.

The team consisted of Michelle Jones, who served as a non-playing captain; Julius and Ruth Talton, a husband/ wife team; Neill Sherrer, William Free, A.C. Reeves, Mike Oslund and Larry Jones. Baxter Stinson coached the team and is the United States Tennis Association league coordinator for Selma.

The team of Reeves/ Oslund clinched the championship with a 12-10 tiebreaker against Birmingham, who was undefeated entering the final match.

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“The format for this flight was actually a round robin,” Stinson said. “It just a coincidence that Selma met the only other undefeated team for the final match of the tournament, but it made for a much more dramatic conclusion.”

The team of Talton/ Talton was undefeated in the tourney while Sherrer and Free, who was hampered with a muscle injury, were undefeated until the final match.