Boasters League
quarter finals~~
The writing was on the wall, apparently – or more
specifically, the writing was in the statistics. You could say that stats don’t
mean anything once the finals come around but the numbers held pretty true for
these 2 quarter final match ups – at least for the winning teams. Obviously, we
don’t announce winners based on past
performances, and the ‘underdogs’ in these scenarios are always looking at
upsetting the apple cart… it’s why you must turn up and play. You are only as
good as your next result. (You can
only brag about the last one…)
Vivio’s v Paddy’s
Dropshots
Vivio’s are
bragging today. Just ask captain Rich
Stimson. The round 6 match-up of these 2 teams was a Vivio’s domination, even though only 10 matches were completed.
This time, 16 matches were in the books, and it would have been all 17 had the
result not already been decided well before then. Seasonal stats translated
almost perfectly here… Vivio’s
season win percentage was 67%. They won 68% of them here. It’s tough to lose
winning that many matches. Especially
when 6 of those wins were 3-0.
And bonus points did not play a part here. Paddy’s Dropshots actually picked up
one more than Vivio’s despite having
2 subs stepping in for them.
Nine of the matches ended up with a competitive 2-1 score
line. The two closest of those nine featured the Van Tol family. The veteran Paul Van Tol (Vivio’s) had to use all of his experience, wily tactics, short
angles, long angles, guestimates, lung capacity, unconventional volleys, and
his 2 foot height advantage over Jordan
Ellis who wouldn’t stop running and running and running and is probably
still running as I type this up. It was 1 game all and Jordan up about 3
points, deep into the 3rd, when Paul somehow pulled back the
deficit, ran some balls down of his own I am sure he never thought he could (or
would) and with a signature PVT back hand push drop into the front corner
finished the 15-14 in the 3rd victory. I think Paul is still sitting
on the bench outside court 1 getting his breath back.
The other Van Tol –
Chris – had reverse fortune. Against another veteran Manny Tancer (Paddy’s
Dropshots), who seems to be an effective racquets craftsman regardless of
which type of racquet he wields. The players split the first 2 games – both
with a 15-14 score line – and were point for point though the third and
deciding game as well. Chris was doing all he could moving Manny around the
court and looked to be getting a little frustrated as his opponent just
wouldn’t stop. The extra couple of retrievals turned out to be the difference
and Manny took the third 15-13. It seems Manny’s style does cause issues for
Chris. Of the 5 results they have listed, Chris has only won once.
Certainly there were other matches were noting: Brian Ellison filled in for the injured
Mike O’Brien (Vivio’s) to tackle Marc
Lakin. A little touchy at times, the two battled hard sharing the first two
games before settling down in the third. Brian’s frustration was causing him to
lose a little focus as he started to over swing at times, but Marc wasn’t
taking full advantage of those loose opportunities hitting too short himself.
The lack of length cost Marc the third and Brian won 2-1. Nick Petcoff was another youngster having to square off with another
veteran – this time Paul Fershee (subbing
for absent Tripp Kennedy). Paul’s
power serve was creating a little havoc with Nick, but Nick adjusted quick
enough to escape with a 2-1 win.
So Vivio’s move
on to next week’s semifinals with a solid 46-31 victory and take on the league
favorites and reigning boasters champions Mongoose.
We have to go way back to round 3 for their previous encounter: Mongoose took the honors – barely –
33-30. This one should (could) go down to the wire.
Over Served v
Winky-Dinks
This encounter was closer. However, Winky-Dinks were behind the eight ball before this got underway.
Unfortunate circumstances had 4 of their players unable to get on court and all
required subs. Injuries mainly, the Winky-Dinks,
it must be said, actually did pretty well to get to the play-offs in the first
place considering they went through the entire season one player short. They
were absent a number 17 player. The original member pulled out before round 1
even got to us and his replacement snapped his Achilles tendon in his first
game of his first match. After that, my substitute cupboard was empty.
Despite the disadvantage, Winky-Dinks kept this close enough to stay mathematically in the
hunt up until the final couple of matches. Remember, subs do not get bonus
points, so Over Served could have
really taken the benefit from that – had they all turned up. Winky-Dinks could only get a maximum of
13 bonus for the evening, and only managed to get 9. Just by all turning up, Over Served could have started with an
8 point lead, but they let themselves down somewhat – only 12 of them showed.
However, the seasonal match winning percentage translated
itself fairly well for Over Served.
55% during the season – and just a little lower with 52% here. To state the
obvious, winning more matches than losing is definitely a plus. To make up for
it, the Winky-Dinks subs were
apparently well chosen – too well
maybe – as three of them won their matches. I of course take full credit for
that – or full blame – depending on what team you are on.
The scores came in sporadically over the week as a third of
them were played early, a third on the scheduled day and the other third a day
late. Extends the interest I suppose, but it makes it difficult to actually see
any of the matches. So the following report is pure speculation and vivid
imagination (scores are at least accurate!): Steve Smihal (Winky-Dinks)
spectacular display of power squash overcame the bull-doggish force of Colin Casey in an epic 2-1 victory that
has the ESPN magazine screaming at me for action photos for next month’s cover.
I hate to have to disappoint them… The magically soft hands of John Perkins (Over Served) had the captivated audience ooh-ing and aah-ing and
aww-ing with his deft drops and subtle deceptive holds, sending the human
Speedy-Gonzalez Seth Helfman
zig-zagging from corner to corner. Seth was close, but not close enough – 2-1
for John. And let’s not forget about twinkle-toes Tom MacEachern (Winky-Dinks)
who dazzled all who dared to witness with nifty footwork looking like he was
auditioning for “Dancing With the Stars” as he took down one of the hardest
working grinders on the tour in Jeff
Gembis with a 2-1 triumph and savoring one the finest presentations of
squash in recent DAC memory.
I’m sure I’m not too far off the mark there, but as we came
down to the final four matches, Winky-Dinks
were only trailing by 8 points. A Cinderella finish was on the horizon, would
captain Justin Winkelman have his
fairy-tale ending and live happily ever after for the next 7 days? No. It was
not to be. The carrot was dangling a little closer – almost in smelling
distance – when the next score came in as a 3-0 win for Winky-Dinks narrowing the gap briefly to just 5 points but it was
short lived when Brandon Tasco secured
the victory for Over Served earning a
3-0 win and crushing all their opponent’s hopes and dreams. All 17 matches
completed, Over Served move on to
survive another day 40-32.
Over Served now
have to back up this effort next week against Butter Nutz. It was a round 1 match-up and the history books show
that Butter Nutz squeaked out a
41-38 win – all 17 matches were
completed that round, so we should be in for a mesmerizing contest!
