Santa Clarita Valley Tennis Aces has formed the first Santa Clarita-area team to compete in the upcoming USTA Junior Team Tennis 10-and-Under league season, and the organization is aggressively recruiting for tennis talent among the Santa Clarita Valley youth to compete in under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s. Tryouts are currently being held to complete in the various age groups.

“We’re excited to field what looks to be like a very talented and deep team which will compete against other 10-and-Under programs throughout the Southern California area,” said founder and head coach Jocel Alcedo. “We’re new at this but we promise to be competitive and to improve each time out.”

Other teams competing include Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Burbank, Studio City, Sylmar, San Fernando Valley, Woodland Hills and Toluca Lake.

It still has not been determined where the squad will play its home matches, with all home matches taking place on Sundays.

The 10-and-Under team is composed of Ella Pratt (age 8, North Lake Hills Elementary), Sadie Pratt (age 7, North Lake Hills Elementary), Juliette Jamjian (age 8, OLPH School), Samantha Milat (age 8, OLPH School), Hatikvah Robles (age 8, OLPH School), Grace Alcedo (age 8, OLPH School) and GaryWu (age 9, Tesoro del Valle Elementary).

Other players over age 10 and also currently practicing weekly with the team include: Shawn Barman (age 14, Valencia High School) and playing No. 1 for Boys, Alan Pagsibigan (age 13) of Valencia; Peter Molina (age 10, Castaic Middle School ) of Castaic; team captain Alex Milat of Valencia (age 16, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy) and playing #1 for Girls ; and Chantira Robles of Fair Oaks Ranch (age 16, Bishop Alemany HS).

For more information on the Santa Clarita Valley Tennis Aces or its tennis team tryouts, contact John Closs at santaclaritavalleytennisaces(at)gmail.com.