Author: Joshua Ho

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 3^rd 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 10^th 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. 

            The 2007 Eastern Regional 3-Wall tournament was help on August 18 and 19, and featured 62 players from the Mid-Atlantic and Florida.  In atypical fashion, Saturday was a cool, sunny day far different from the oven-like temperatures of the previous few years.  While last year brought a number of forfeits due to the heart, this year many of the finals were rained out on Sunday.  Several matches were rescheduled, others went indoors, and unfortunately the A Singles needed to be cancelled.  Catering was provided by Bill Littleton, and Sharon Parsons was responsible for the embroidered tournament towel received by all entrants.  Charlie Parsons created an overhang that saved us from the sun on Saturday and protected us from the rain on Sunday.  Nathaniel Frank took on the challenge of organizing the tournament entries and did a tremendous job with court assignments.  Special thanks to Alan Frank for again taking on the responsibility of creating the draw.

            Will Bardwell and Lee Anderson proved that their No Frills victory earlier this summer was no fluke, as they made it to the finals through a tough lower half of the draw by defeating Angel/Bastidas in a tie-breaker and then cruised past Ho/Lewis 4, 11 in the semi-final.  Lewis and Ho had their own troubles in the first round, escaping Adam Zimet and Alvaro Rebaza in a tie-breaker after losing the first game.  Dan Zimet and Alan Frank, who have traditionally elected to play with different partners in the Eastern Regional, joined together to practice for the upcoming Nationals.  Their path to the finals was smoother, winning handily over Murray and List and then surviving a tough second game against Rick Anderson and Jay Miller.  After cruising in the first game, Miller became very steady in the deep court and Anderson’s classic front court game turned red hot.  However, they were unable to hold off Zimet/Frank, who won 5, 16.  The final was delayed a week due to the rain-out on Sunday, and Anderson/Bardwell seemed to lack the fire and spirit that has carried them to victories summer.  Unable to return Zimet’s serve, they fell behind quickly in the first game and were unable to recover.  The second game was more closely contested, but ended in the same result as Zimet and Frank won the division by scores in the low teens.

            The Master’s Singles final, won by Alan Frank over David List, was a contest far tougher than the scores indicated as Frank prevailed 21-7, 21-12.  List plays a solid game punctuated by few hand errors, outstanding conditioning, and solid power.  Perhaps Frank’s knowledge of these courts was the difference, as he broke away in the first game on a long service inning punctuated by a series of unreturnable aces each hitting the fence just past the long-line.  Frank’s road to the final included a very tough second game against the improved 3-wall play of Jay Miller, whose tenacious retrieving and ability to put the ball away make him a dangerous part of any draw.  List’s road to the final required him to get past the spirited play of Tony Winter, who was unable to match Lists physical prowess this year and fell at 13 and 9.

            The 50+ singles was played indoors and proved one of the tightest finals with Tim Murray emerging from the 3-seed to win 21-8, 9-21, 11-9.  A man of few words, Murzy summarized the match as, “You can say it was a hard fought indoor battle and he came out on top.”  Murray’s road to the final was helped by the toughest contender in the division, as Dan Ho needed a tie-breaker to win his play-in match against Danny Yee, and then held Ken Greco at match point to prevail in the quarterfinals 15-21, 21-20, 11-9.  Murray was prepared to pounce after an easier match against Jerry Yee, prevailing in the semifinal 15 and 16.  Pat Lowery seemed unable to press Murzy out of his game plan in the other semi-final, which usually calls for an overhand serve and then deep passes down the wall.

                The 50+ doubles featured 4 teams each with players who have won National titles.  On the top of the draw, Roger Berry and Rick Anderson seemed to have the upper hand throughout the match by keeping both Steve Alicandro and Tony Winter scrambling for retrieves during grueling rallies.  After an adjustment, Bob Bardwell and Dave Hinkelman made it to game point before falling 21-9, 21-20 against Bob Dyke and Ken Greco.  In the final Anderson/Berry were able to survive the aggressive 4-wall offensive play of Bob Dyke and Ken Greco by scores of 21-8 and 21-18.  Both Anderson and Greco took their normal control of the front court, picking off many short balls and ending the volleys with unreturnable (and sometimes unexpected) kill-shots. Dyke and
Berry did their best to fight off the tough glass back-wall and not give too many soft shots to the other team.  Dyke pointed out that this match took place on Anderson’s 50^th birthday.  Welcome to the Golden Masters, Rick!

            With a number of players unable to compete in this year’s 60+ division due to injury, the field was open for someone to take advantage.  That person was George Fambro, who made it to the finals in both the singles and doubles.   In the singles, Fambro took out Joe Pleszkoch in the semifinals in two hard fought games, using his lanky reach and speed to keep the ball away from Pleszkoch’s dangerous power.  Graham Palmore started his march to the finals with a decisive win over 2^nd seeded Healey, then dispatching Norris in two games in the semi-final.  Fambro started strong but seemed to run out of answers as Palmore came back from an early Fambro lead and never looked back, winning 21-10, 21-4. 

            The 60 doubles final developed into a match of which team had the better service game.  In the first game, the team of Pleszkoch/Greenwald dominated with superb serving by Greenwald and the always strong overall left side play of Pleszkoch.  “Greenwald’s wicked serves down the left sidewall were a thing of beauty,” said Fambro.

In the second game, after a strategic timeout by Fambro with Pleszkoch/Greenwald leading, Fambro’s serve started to dominate with aces and driving right side serves to Greenwald.  Healey’s consistent left side play kept Pleszkoch in the backcourt, which allowed Fambro to play his very effective frontcourt game when Pleszkoch/Greenwald were able to return his serves.  A win set the stage for a tie-breaker.  In the tiebreaker, Fambro’s service game continued to dominate.  Again, aces and driving right and left side serves kept Pleszkoch/Greenwald from on their heels as Healey/Fambro prevailed 14-21, 21-10  and 11-5.

            The B Doubles was a round-robin event featuring numerous tie-breaker matches as all teams seemed evenly matched.  Eventually, John Coughlan’s overall solid game and power proved the difference as he teamed up with Bryan Nelson for the victory.  Their fiercest competition drove in from Philadelphia, as Peart and Woodward took them to 21-18, 18-21, and then 11-9.  It was great having a Nelson back in the tournament, and we hope to see Bryan continue to develop his game.

            Unfortunately, the A Singles was left unfinished as Danny Silva waited for the rains to stop on Sunday but eventually had to make his way back to Queens.  John Coughlan won his semi-final with two big games over Tim Fry.  Meanwhile, Silva beat Adam Zimet in two games as well.  Hopefully these two will get the chance to make the final happen at some point in the future.

            The Eastern Regional remains an excellent event and the draw is always filled with players preparing for the Nationals, looking to challenge themselves after a summer outdoors, and looking to enjoy the hospitality organized by the combined effort of the MHA Executive Committee.  The MHA works hard to accommodate schedules, get matches out on time, and prepare hospitality for players as well as guests.  As the Maryland Handball Commissioner I would like to express my thanks to the many players and their families who make the trip to Ellicott City, Maryland each year two-weeks prior to Labor Day.  I would also like to point out that these events would not happen without the volunteer efforts of both the MHA and the players who referee matches.