The 3-wall Nationals are over and we had quite a turnout from the Mid-Atlantic this year. This was a tough year for our local troupe in terms of titles as the fewest trophies – 3 – were brought back than in previous years. That being said, local players made a great impact and went deep into a number of draws. Local players were in the finals of 3 age brackets, the 35+, 45+, and 55+. There were some huge wins, some heartbreaking losses, and as always great support from the crowd who calls Centennial North home.
The Mid-Atlantic has struggled to put in a solid appearance in the Open division, but this year Josh Ho had one of the best victories of the tournament. His first round win over Kendall Lewis 21-20, 21-15 was a milestone victory and showed us that his conditioning and extra play this year made a difference. Both Josh and Lee Anderson lost in the quarterfinals of the A singles in heartbreaking fashion – both losing in tie-breakers on what turned out to be a very tough Friday.
Alan Frank and Dan Zimet won the 45+ and 35+ singles and then slammed by teaming up to win the 35+ doubles for the 3rd year in a row. Alan had the best showing of the tournament, defeating a very tough opponent, Ray Graham, in the semi-finals. Ray had beaten Chris Roberts in two games the previous day, and showed why as his offense was extremely consistent. After losing a close first game Alan made some adjustment and with superior conditioning kept Ray on the court and wore him down. The final was against Pete Service, who many of us will recall kept Alan from winning his 10th National title when the Masters Singles was held in Maryland by beating him in an 11-9 tie-breaker in 2006. This year Alan turned the tide. After closing out the first game 21-20, Alan lost a big lead in game 2 and fell 21-17 to force a tie-breaker. Alan jumped to a 7-0 lead, only to watch Service creep back and forge a 9-7 lead with his serve-and-shoot game. Alan was able to make it to 10, but great defense by Service held him at the number for 3 service innings until a left-handed cross-court dump kill ended this very exciting match. The drama of the 45+ division was not felt in the 35+ final, where Dan Zimet defeated Chris Jennings in two lopsided games. Jennings, who took the first game from Zimet in the final two years ago, brought the family and a few sleepless nights may have cost him. In the 35+ doubles, it was the semi-finals that brought the most intrigue as a very tough team of Tyler Hamel and Grant Jennings played Frank and Zimet after our local guys had played their singles finals. Zimet cranked up his game to win in two, but the points were hard-fought. To the surprise of many, Service and Jennings fell in two games to Harris/Lynch, who took advantage of both players having endured tough losses to Zimet and Frank earlier that day.
Jay Miller had a heartbreaking Friday loss to Kevin Hill. Both players seemed a bit physically out of sorts in this match, as Jay seemed to have a pull in his calf and Kevin struggled with endurance. Jay kept him on the court, but Kevin just would not go away and after splitting two games it was Hill closing out the match 11-10. This tie-breaker match would not be the last as Miller teamed up with Rick Anderson in the 40+ and played two tie-break matches. They won the first over Hill and Clemens, giving Miller a bit of revenge for his earlier defeat. But the tide would go the other way in the semi-finals. Ahead 9-7 in the tie-breaker, Zamora laid down three straight roll-out ace serves to get to 10-9. Coming in from a time-out, Zamora’s partner Danny Saenz was delight to see another great serve that, when weakly returned, was rolled out in the left corner by Zamora. But Anderson was not done with tie-break matches either! In another tightly fought contest, Anderson teamed with Marc Penick and were matched against our very own Bob Dyke and Ken Greco. After a 21-20 win, Dyke and Greco let the match go in the second game and fell at 6. The tie-breaker seemed as though it would go to whomever was able to make that one critical shot at the right time. On this day it was Dyke/Greco, who pulled it out 11-10. Greco/Dyke went on to win another tie-breaker the very next day in the quarterfinals of the 50+, but ran into a buzzsaw in the semis against last year’s champion team of Corrigan Kirk. This seemed to be a year of heartbreak losses for Rick Anderson and Jay Miller, who will hopefully return next year for revenge.
Many were hopefully but not sure what to expect from Bob Bardwell, whose victory in the 60+ singles last year made a splash that he was unable to defend due to an ailing right arm. Teaming with Hinkelman in the 60+ doubles, they struggled after a decisive first game victory and fell local players Thode and Hilsinger.
Mort Frank and Lou Buckingham were showing excellent promise with their decisive first round win. However a trip to the finals was not meant to be. Despite playing a great match in the semi-finals, amassing more points against the eventual champions than any other team, they were unable to close out a tight second game and fell 21-11, 21-18.
Maryland had another great tournament win in the 55+, as Murzy Jhabvala fought and won in a frustratingly good first round opponent in Ted Pritchard. He then faced top seeded Alan Serrill, an opponent with many weapons including solid conditioning and a wicked spinning lefty serve. Murzy completely overwhelmed Sherrill with his deep passing game down to walls, decisively winning in two games 21-3, 21-5. A picture of Murzy’s match was listed with a picture on the USHA website! The final proved a difficult challenge as Conneely seemed to have an answer for everything Murzy threw at him.
The youngest representative of Maryland, Nathaniel Frank, had a nice showing in the 13 and under. His much improved game showed as he tallied 8 points against a tough opponent in Steve Matiasek. Nathaniel’s increased play was evidenced by more consistent serves and a much improved ability to keep the ball in play.
Joe Pleszkoch was our sole representative in the 60+ singles, but had a difficult tournament. After a solid first round win he faced Greg Raya, and after amassing more points in the first game than any other player would in both games (9) Raya clamped tight to close out the match. Unfortunately, the team of Plesckoch and Mort Frank seemed to struggle with court position and determining their roles and lost in the first round. Lou Buckingham also won his first round in the 75+ before losing to the eventual winner.
Top seeded Will Bardwell and Erik Anderson were looking forward to this year’s B Doubles, having missed out on playing together last year when Eric withdrew after getting blasted in the eye by a shot from Sean Lenning in the Open. Unfortunately, Will and Eric never got on track. After a decisive win in their first round, they struggled with consistency and never got their serves in track in the quarterfinals. Will and Eric both commented that neither could recall a time when they served worse.
Dan Ho made a strong showing in the 50+ B singles event with his improved kill shots. He progressed to the semifinals losing to Ivan Elliott in a close tiebreaker 11-8.
Pat Lowery doubled up on singles events, competing in both the 40+ and 50+ B singles events. Lowery fell at the hands of local singles sparring partner Dan Ho in the quarterfinals of the 50+ B. In the 40+ B singles, he marched to the finals but lost in 2 games.