MASTERS OF THE SINGLES UNIVERSE

2019 DAC Singles Club Championships

April. One of my favorite months of the year. Winter is on its last legs, warmer days are sprinkled into the calendar to gently tease us for what’s to come, my wife clears away the bulky winter boots from the doorway (only to replace them with countless numbers of sandals… I mean how many pairs of feet do we have in the house?), every time I go outside I have to debate with myself for 5 minutes whether or not I should take a jacket, the Tigers are well on their way to treating us with another rebuilding year, the rabbits in our back yard are having a field day keeping the grass invisible… it’s a wonderful time!

It also indulges us with the DAC Club Championships! That one in-house tournament of the year that celebrates loudly all the winners, makes a party of the finals night and we congratulate ourselves on another successful winter season. So who propelled themselves into DAC immortality for 2019?

2.5 – Adam Who?

This year’s 2.5 bracket was the largest of all the categories, which is not all that unusual for this tournament. It’s also not that uncommon for many of the results to end up 3-0 given that there isn’t a lower division and the difference between the strongest 2.5 players and the lowest can be significant. Leading up to the final, we only had three results that extended all the way to a 5^th game, although we did get a handful of 3-1 score lines.

Greg Jones was not a surprise finalist, but he was one of a few that I believed could get there. None of his matches were straight forward leading up to the final, he was a model of consistency winning all three of those contests 3-1. His quarter final was against Steve Murphy (who I had seeded second), a player that he – strangely – had never played before. You would think after many years of league and box ladders, they would have crossed paths at least once! A lefty, experienced, and a doubles player, Steve can be an awkward opponent, especially if you haven’t stepped on court with him. Greg was up to the challenge however, and managed to jump that hurdle. In the semifinal, he was battling Julie Vande Vusse, someone he had played before, so there was a level of familiarity. Of their 4 previous meetings, Julie could only claim one victory – back in February of 2018 – and the losses were generally close. Julie also reached the semifinal last year of this tournament and was motivated to go at least one step further, but it wasn’t to be. Greg’s 4-set win put him in the final.

John Stelter was the front runner on the other side of the draw as the number one seed. He maybe a little… let’s say ‘wiser’ than his opponents that he met up with, but not too many can out hustle him. He did more than enough of that in his first two matches winning them 3-1 and 3-0 respectively. In the semifinal, he then met a wall in Adam McDowell. Who? As squash pro, I meet a lot of members. Impossible to remember all of them, but I generally have a pretty good beat on the squash players at least. Adam has been a part of our squash family for probably a year now (give or take) but plays at times I rarely see him. He could walk past me and I wouldn’t recognize him. That sounds bad, and I apologize to Adam for that. He took care of business against John - and like every other match before it – it was a 3-0 victory. Now at least I will get to know Adam a little better since he has to be here for the final and hopefully I will not forget what he looks like moving forwards! Nice to put a face to the e-mail.

McDowell v Jones. There aren’t any results between these two either, but my spidey-senses were tingling towards Adam this – he’s ranked higher on Sporty HQ. Picking up where he left off, Adam continued his 2.5 dominance, not exactly steam rolling Greg, but not giving him much wiggle room either. Another 3-0 victory for Adam completing a clean sweep of 3-0 matches through the draw. Greg didn’t play poorly, he was just beaten by the stronger player!

3.0 – Frost Ices Wilson

As I have mentioned before, we have had a small influx of young squash players this season that has dropped our average age of the court almost by half… Well, not quite that much, (unless you count the handball players…!) but they do look like they barely have started to shave and are a constant reminder of those days long since past when I was in my mid-twenties… when internet didn’t exist, mobile phones were a super luxury and (literally) the size of a briefcase, a car was considered ‘luxury’ if it was an automatic shift with electric windows and air conditioning, and Atari was the must-have game console. Simpler times. I digress.

Michael Wilson was one of eight 20-something year olds in the draw almost giving this bracket a junior tournament feel! It’s fortunate that we run this event over a month and give everyone roughly a week between matches, because for most of us we need the recovery. If this was all played within 2-3 days, the final may have looked rather different. Not for Michael though. He won his first match 3-0, then decided he preferred to add some excitement to the scores. His next 3 matches went the distance – all to 5 games – and no doubt he was loving every second of them. His semifinal win over Mike Ottaway was probably the biggest upset considering I had Mike as the top seed and he has the uncanny knack of finding ways to win in tight matches. Just means he’s a great competitor, but on this occasion, Michael Wilson was able to run it out reach the final.

My dark horse of the division was Matt Paradiso, barely out of high school, cool under pressure, never looks like he’s sweating. Matt reached the semifinal with 2 fairly comfortable victories, dropping only 1 game. His opponent would be Jeff Frost that on paper (according to Sporty HQ stats) should win 3-0. Jeff is significantly higher than Matt on the ranking, but Matt is moving up quickly so in this case, it’s a misleading view. That being said, Jeff did win the match, but it was 3-1, and Jeff was admittedly elated it didn’t head into a 5^th game. He was spent, Matt was still probably warming up.

Wilson v Frost. I’m giving the nod to Jeff on this one, again basing it on more experience, and Jeff will be fresh going in. Similar to the comparison to Matt though, Sporty HQ has Jeff the heavy favorite, but again, Michael is moving up the ranks. I don’t think it will be all that easy. Admittedly, I don’t have any feedback on how this match went other than the score. I am going to presume it was a grand battle, littered with memorable rallies. Jeff won 3-0, taking one for the veterans!

3.5 – Can’t Miss Chris

Got to hand it to Rich Stimson. I think every single year since I have worked here, he has entered the 3.5 division and he has yet to win it. He has come close – almost broke the streak last year when he lost the final in 5 to Brian Ellison, and he was also just one win away from glory way back in 2009 when he lost the final to George Kordas. He is competitive by nature – something about redheads? – and this year he stormed through the first two matches 3-0 before almost stumbling in the semifinal against Michael Hanchett.

Mike had a great showing for this event. He scraped through his second round against Han Peng with an impressive (and appropriate) 5-set win. It wasn’t really an upset since Mike has beaten Han before, but Han does hold a slight edge on win percentage. He still does, but now it’s just by one… 7 to 6. Mike has never come up against Rich before, so it was new territory for the both of them. Rich scooted out to a 2-0 lead but Mike fought back to level it at 2 apiece. Rich, however, dug deep and pushed through the 5^th to take the win and give himself his third bite of the 3.5 cherry.

In his way? Chris MacKenzie. He quickly turned himself into the favorite for this category (sorry, Rich!) as he carved his way through the draw, slicing and dicing, chopping and dropping, kicking and nicking all who dared stand in his path. That included the 3.5 champion from 2015 Josh Slominski in the semifinal who decided to reenter the squash arena just for fun after a long hiatus from competition. Josh is still no pushover, but Chris still managed to smash and crash his way past him and like all his other victims no one could manage to pick up a game.

Stimson v MacKenzie. Obviously, based on my last paragraph, Chris was my pick. Could Rich’s determination and drive be enough to finally get over the finish line? Ummm… no. It couldn’t. Chris is quick and in good shape, something that for us older players can be tough to deal with and Rich struggled to keep up with the pace of the game and the constant retrievals from Chris. It was a 3-0 win, and Chris will now step it up to at least the 4.0!

4.0 –  Brandon Continues to Rise

A decently competitive bracket that once again featured a sprinkle of younger players that are constantly improving. It makes it tough to place such players in the league because of the speed of their progress. They may be at the correct level when the league starts, but 3 to 4 weeks in they have already surpassed that standard and could be competitive one or two positions higher. Such is the case with Mario Ferrini and Brandon Tasco. Youth and athleticism is a fairly beneficial combination, plus they are playing multiple times a week which helps enormously.

Mario reached the semifinal but did it tough the whole journey. Two 3-1 wins to start off – one of them against the third seeded Scott Beals – and then in the quarter final he had to contend with the never-say-die efforts of Brian Ellison who is no stranger to, and not afraid of, diving for balls. Mario squeaked out the 3-2 win to reach the semifinal where he came up against one of his nemesis in Brandon Tasco.

Brandon had an easier run to the semifinal, dropping only one game. They actually have never played an official match against each other, but have practiced together often, Mario knew he was in for a tough time. But he played well and pushed the match to 4 games. Brandon gets to play the final, Mario should be pleased with a semifinal appearance.

The upper half of the draw was also closely fought. Another young rapid riser, Mack Gembis upset a couple of people along the way taking out Marc Lakin in 5 in round one and then the top seeded Brian Bartes in round two – also in 5 games. He was just a hair away from making 3-for-3 five-set wins but fell agonizingly short losing 12-10 in the 5^th to John Perkins in the quarter final.

Brandon Tasco and Mike Petix

With the early departure of Brian Bartes, Mike Petix was suddenly the favorite to reach the final. Mike very nearly didn’t make it out of round 1 but he survived the scare – and the cross court drop shots, backhand flicks, and endless scurry of Phil Pitters to win in 5. A little easier from then on, Mike took John Mann 3-1 and John Perkins 3-1 and was now in the final.

Tasco v Petix. Tough one to predict. I’ll cheated a little here and looked up their head-to-head. It did surprise me a tad to see that Brandon holds a 5-1 lead in that category – but – all of his wins went the distance. Either 3-2 box ladder or 2-1 league score lines. So I’ll lean towards a Tasco win, but it’s with hesitation. Mike has a little more experience and has actually won a club championship title before – the 3.5 division in 2012. Once again though, the fresher legs of the youngster would prove to be the difference maker. The longer the match went, the more Mike was slowing down. Mike won the second game, but the work he was putting in to win any point was catching up to him. Brandon could sense the gradual decline, he was determined not to let Mike get his breath back. Brandon completes an impressive 2018-2019 season with a 3-1 win!

4.5 – Run, John, Run!

Where are all the 4.5 players? Shocked to see that just 4 players signed up for this one, maybe they were scared of the number one seeded David de la Torre? That’s easy to understand, I mean this international man of mystery has a thousand nick-names (aliases) so he has to be looked at a little cross-eyed, no? Could he be the inspiration behind the Austin Powers character too? Who knows?

Anyway, Dave’s semifinal went according to my brilliant seeding and he won it 3-1 over John Roarty to reach the final. The other semifinal had exactly the same score line and also stuck to my brilliant seeding algorithm. Second seed John Rogers took care of business against James Van Dyke and even though I didn’t watch the match, after seeing John play a bit recently, I would venture to guess he lost the first game here before getting his motor running to roll through the following 3. It was only the second time John had beaten James, he had lost 3 of the previous 4 match-ups but going on current form, this isn’t an upset.

David de la Torre and John Rogers

Rogers v de la Torre. I am making my forecast here based on recent, first-hand observations of both players. Sporty HQ tells me I should be backing David here as history lists him as having John’s number. Four wins in a row, and only one game dropped. But, this may come down to a fitness issue. If John can extend the rallies long enough – even if he loses the first and / or second game – he has a chance of wearing Dave down. So, I am going off on a limb on this one and predicting a little upset here with John Rogers taking the title.

Just like a Hollywood script, I was spot on. John lost the first game, decided he was now warmed up, cranked his legs into second gear and started to grind away. It was curious to see that the longer this match went, the bouncier John got. He was getting faster, and he could smell the blood in the water. Dave on the other hand was straining. Every consequent rally that little but tougher, a little slower off the mark, glasses needed that extra few seconds to clean, the shoelace needed adjusting. Fitness caught up to him in a big way and John was in for the kill. Finishing the match with a couple of nasty drops, John took the 4.5 title with a 3-1 victory!

5.0 – Blake makes it 4

Overall, the 5.0 would be the most difficult of all the categories to choose a winner. We had 12 registrations in the draw this year, 6 of which had – at some time or another – already won at least one club championship title (over various categories, including the 5.0). This group play and practice regularly together so they are familiar with each other’s games, nobody was a sure thing.

Five set matches were almost expected here, and two of the four first round matches delivered. Chris Van Tol 3-2 over Jay Bonahoom and Paul Ward 3-2 over Ryan “has-anyone-seen-him-lately?” MacVoy. Chris survived another round as well, taking down JC Tibbitts 3-1 before meeting his match against the top seeded Andy Adamo in 4. Paul wasn’t so fortunate, he succumbed to the 2017 5.0 champion (and the 2016 4.5 champion; and the 2012 4.0 champion) Blake Ellis in his second match.

Tom MacEachern was seeded 3 and had a very difficult time against Brien Baker in his first match. Brien can volley with the best of them and if you aren’t consistently tight, you will find yourself running after countless volley-boasts into the front. Apparently, Tom ‘enjoyed’ that exercise and saw more of the front two corners than he has since his drop shot lesson with me. It was just enough to get over the finish line 11-8 in the 5^th. So excited Tom was to win in 5, he wanted to try and repeat that effort with Blake. However, Blake also adores long, lung-busting matches and was delighted to oblige. 5 games. Down to the wire. Was it 12-10 in the 5^th? Blake got the win and jumped into the final looking for his 4^th DAC title.

Waiting for him was Andy Adamo, one of the six players in the draw that has yet to win a club championship title. Although he has been the bridesmaid 3 times. Andy only dropped that one game to Chris Van Tol in the semifinal to reach the final and seemed to be hitting a decent ball in preparation.

Andy Adamo and Blake Ellis

Ellis v Adamo. The reading of the tea leaves her? I’m taking Andy on this one. Why? Because one of Andy’s finals losses came at the hands of Blake in 2017 11-9 in the 5^th. I am sure he still remembers that and by no means wishes to repeat it. Match history is not on his side however – Blake holds a commanding 8 wins to 2 losses against him. I think its Andy’s year though… Well, yikes! I got this wrong.

Blake started soundly in the first 2 games, quick on the ball and into the front, strong hitting. Andy, it seemed, looked somewhat flat. Although Andy has the skills to put the ball away, can display some silky touch – which he did at times – it was just too sporadic to make any dent into Blake’s game plan. It wasn’t long before Blake held a 2-0 lead. The third game changed around however, Andy kept a more controlled outlook and eliminated much of the unforced errors which – surprise, surprise – puts the pressure back onto the opponent. Blake started to find the tin more often, trying to be too exact rather than give himself a little margin. Andy took the third. But it was he wrote. The effort was too much to back it up for the fourth and Blake charged through the game, taking the match 3-1 and with it, his 4^th club championship title.

Open – No Stopping Stefan

The biggest Open category we have had since at least 2005, of the 14 players in this draw, 10 of them have experienced club championship glory in the past. Only 3 of them in the Open division though. So it is without a doubt the strongest Open draw we have ever had. The past 4 years have flip-flopped winners between Jed Elley and Vikram Chopra but this year would be a different story.

With the addition of Stefan Houbtchev last summer, he slotted himself immediately as the one to beat, strengthening our highest division even more. Stefan comes off a strong junior career in Canada and before moving back to Windsor, spent the last 3 years at Western University in London, Ontario on their squash team competing solidly on what is a very good team. So he has the goods. And the youth. And the strength. And the youth. And the talent. And did I mention the youth?

The biggest question was not whether Stefan was going to reach the final, but who would he be playing – the most likely scenario answering that question would be the semifinal between Vikram and Jed. And it was. There isn’t a whole between the two. Prior to this semi, they had 10 results recorded, 5 wins apiece, and if you wanted to get into the nitty-gritty, Vikram overall had won 17 games to Jed’s 16. So you may as well flip a coin to see who would win on this occasion.

I was fortunate to catch a game of this match – the third one after Jed had taken a 2-0 lead. Vikram appeared a little sluggish but can be awkward to counter when he starts pounding the ball with his whippy technique. It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the ball was flying everywhere and Jed had a little trouble finding a comfort zone. A few unforced errors cost Jed the game, Vikram was starting to mount a comeback. Or so it seemed. It was short lived. Even though Vikram held a lead into the 4^th, Jed settled down and found the groove of the first 2 games to finish off the 4^th and jettison himself into the final to square off with Stefan.

Jed Elley and Stefan Houbtchev

Houbtchev v Elley. I’m picking Stefan to take his first title. It’s no secret he is the favorite, but it will be interesting to see what Jed can do. Keeping Stefan on court for as long as he can would be a good start. It didn’t happen in the first game. Jed appeared a little nervous to start this match, he was a step or two behind the power hitting of Stefan and was a little shaky with his own strokes as well. 11-2 in just a few minutes, but he would pick it up in the second. Longer rallies which is the ticket, the two players showed the rest of us some impressive court coverage, what a good, deep lunge is all about, and how recovering to the ‘T’ should be performed. Some nice winners from Jed in this game, but overall Stefan was still the dictating force. 11-6. The third game was similar to the second. Jed would put up some decent resistance, again slot a couple of nice winners, but the constant pressure that Stefan imposes eventually overruns everything. The best rally was left until the last rally of the match, Jed had Stefan on a string from corner to corner, but shockingly flubbed the easiest of put-away volley winners to end it. 11-5. A magnificent performance from Stefan, our new Club Champion!

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists – you are the representatives for our 2020 Farris Cup team that will need to avenge the loss we suffered through earlier this year.

MASTERS OF THE DOUBLES UNIVERSE

2019 DAC Doubles Club Championships

Ever wonder what the Squash Doubles Universe would be like? Probably full of eternally frustrated players spending inordinate amounts of time on their e-mail and I-phones, trying to arrange a time to play a match, virtually never coming to a consensus, and if they happen to find a convenient settlement  - which would only be possible through massive sacrifices of everybody’s personal schedule – the court would either be already booked, or, someone is bound to have to cancel last minute due to an illness or injury or last minute work trip or family vacation and the entire process would start over. All the while, the local squash pro would be cc’d every single correspondence, and then some extra ones from those exasperated players complaining about the lack of flexibility of everyone else…

Of course I am exaggerating (although I am positive many of you can relate). Matches do actually get played, our doubles court usage is up, and for this year’s Club Championship, not only did we have record numbers (again!) with 80 players, every single match was played (no forfeits!) and it was kept relatively on time. My poking and prodding to meet deadlines was kept to a minimum for which I thank you for making my job easier!

Doubles C

A surprisingly small draw of just 4 teams this year. I was a somewhat disappointed that more of the C doubles league players didn’t bother entering. Two of the 4 teams in the draw weren’t even in the league! The “non-league” teams fared better in the two semifinals, and put this down to youthful exuberance overcoming the knowledge and wisdom.

I don’t think Spencer Forester and Tony Sorgi had terribly much familiarity with the doubles court before this tournament, and playing against Renée Fershée and Sue Kessler in the first match, they probably didn’t know much of what was going on either. But, that doesn’t stop them from running, and conceptually, if you can run the ball down enough, you are going to win. They did. 3-0. The other side of the draw had the effective father-son pairing of Rob Biskup and his son Rob. Or Robbie. Or Junior. Daddy Rob has some doubles education already and he could rely on Rob Jr. to do a lot of the running for him. It was a successful operation and they passed their first test against Jim Palmer and Bruce Greening, also 3-0.

Rob Biskup Sr, Robbie Biskup Jr, Spencer Forester, Tony Sorgi

An interesting final match up. And since I have never seen either of the 4 play doubles before, my prediction of a winner is based purely on gut. And my magic 8-ball. I’m picking Biskup / Biskup… just based on the fact that Rob Sr. has played more often than the other 3 players combined. Experience helps. For once, I was right! And it wasn’t because I took the advice of the 8-ball since it told me “better not tell you now” (it was mocking me, I’m sure). Daddy Rob and Robbie Jr. proved to be too strong for the Sorgi / Forester team taking all 3 hard-fought games and earning what I believe to be the first ever DAC father / son club championship combination.

Doubles B

10 pairs in what was a competitive field, very few easy passes were handed out, and a couple of upsets would create a very different final than what we had just 12 months ago. Top seeds Joe Moran and Ken Katz were chasing their 4^th Club Championship title, building on their success from 2018. But things did not go according to plan. They met their match early on in the tournament – in their first encounter in fact – against Colin Casey and Jordan Dean who upset the current title holders 3-2. Joe and Ken were as shocked as anyone but I am sure they will be back in 2020 to make amends, defy the odds, and once again be a threat.

Colin and Jordan were probably a little stunned if not bemused as well to be advancing to the semifinals. Meeting them there were David Pontes and Steve Murphy. David and Steve also scraped through their first match, fortunate to get away with a 3-2 victory over Bob Garvey and Joe Leto. The lefty-righty combination of the Pontes / Murphy team was a valuable asset tackling the somewhat younger Casey / Dean unit. It is tough playing against a pair that hits everything forehand and although Jordan and Colin put up a decent resistance, it wasn’t sufficient to win the 3 games required. They got 1, and should be pretty satisfied how far they reached in this tournament.

On the bottom half of the draw, I seeded last year’s finalists Justin Winkelman and Tom Bejin third. They were slightly rusty it appeared and struggled to get past their first round, but a 3-1 win put them into the semifinal. The second seeds were Ian Edwards and Bruce Shaw, another right-lefty combo, but also a youngie-oldie (sorry Bruce!) one and that can be very helpful for extra court coverage. Ian and Bruce won their first match 3-1 to take on Justin and Tom. As this match was on, I was giving a lesson a couple of courts away and the acoustics of the court area carry and echo pretty far. Suffice to say, I didn’t have much problem discerning who was winning. I didn’t think Justin could be so loud! He wasn’t happy with his form, it seems the rust hadn’t escaped him. Ian and Bruce won 3-1.

Another final that was difficult to prophesize. But that hasn’t stopped me in the past… so I going to lean to the Edwards / Shaw team. I think Ian’s speed may make the difference here. Even though I picked wisely for the Doubles C final, I so often demonstrate when it comes my witchcraft skills of foretelling the future, I am generally terrible at it. And once again, in this case, I condemned the chosen, there was no escaping their fate. Try as they might, mind you.

Ian and Bruce started off well taking the first game 15-7, but the cookies didn’t crumble their way in the next two and Steve and David headed into the 4^th with a 2-1 lead. Very little separated the teams from here on out, and in fact the Murphy / Pontes team held a match-ball before succumbing 14-15, Ian and Bruce dragging this into a decider. But, thanks to my pre-match premonitions, this result was apparently already written in the stars. It was close. Steve and David claim their first DAC Doubles title with 15-13 in the 5^th victory! Great game fellas - !

Doubles A

The biggest draw of the tournament, we had 15 pairs fighting it out. When I did the bracket, my money was clearly on Scott Beals and John Mann taking the honors – considering that I had them seeded one. By the way they were (trash) talking, they also considered themselves favorites to win which can be a dangerous approach to have, but no one has ever accused John Mann of not being confident! My mother always told me to let my racquet do the talking, (amongst many, many other things that still bounce around my brain to this day!) but it can be rather humorous to read the e-mails between the teams well before the first serve is even in play!

Scott and John reached the semifinal comfortably enough but their dreams of stardom came very close to crashing down around them when they stepped on court against Brian Ellison and Patrick Petz. Brian and Patrick stepped up to the challenge and slapped around the favorites for the first 3 and a half games. The 2-1, 9-4 lead for the Ellison / Petz team must have sent shock waves of panic through Beals / Mann who were shockingly on the brink of tragedy. But, apparently, this is what it took for Scott and John to see the light, and heave themselves out of the ditch they were mercilessly thrown into. A comeback of epic proportions, Beals and Mann turned it around and to put it rather bluntly, “got their s**t together” in the nick of time to pinch the 4^th and keep that momentum up for the 5^th as well. A fortunate escape, would the final be a different story?

The story of the bottom half of the draw was the Rogers brothers. John and Jeff are not overly experienced on the doubles court, and rely an awful lot on retrieving. And no one can argue the fact they can do that. All. Day. Long. And probably all night as well if you asked. (They don’t sleep-walk either – they sleep-run.) Jeff (strangely) takes the left wall where it appears he’s terrified of hitting a backhand, so he often wallpapers himself back-first into the side wall to swing forehand… yes, it’s odd, but weirdly effective. Still, I wasn’t holding my breath that they were going to be a threat for this event, but to quote the famous Manuel character from the British ‘Faulty Towers’ comedy series... “I know nothing!” Team Rogers defied the bookies knocking out second seeded Dane Fosse and Ryan MacVoy 3-1 in the first round, then sending the 2016 finalists in Chris Van Tol and Matt DiDio packing in the second round 3-2, finding themselves in the semifinals and me chewing some humble pie (again). Could they take it one step further?

No. They couldn’t. But only by the hair of their chinny-chin-chin. Marc Topacio and John Perkins had cruised to reach this far, and probably somewhat astonished to see who they were playing. They were no less astonished I am sure to see that they had a dog-fight on their hands as well as the match stretched deep into a 5^th game. To 14-all. Sudden-death. Now, I don’t know how the point was decided (Winner? Error? Stroke?), but Marc and John were the ones who won it. They sat outside court 5 for some time after the match, contemplating what just happened, counting blessings. Jeff and John ran off.

Picking a finals winner doesn’t get easier here either. My gut tells me to go with Scott Beals and John Mann. I think their semifinal scare may straighten them out for the final and they’ll step it up from rally one. Of course, now that I have said that will it actually be the kiss of death? Apparently not this time. I was spared the humiliation of looking like I have no idea what I’m talking about, John and Scott saved my bacon. Mann / Beals certainly bolted out of the gates as I predicted they would and dominated the first 2 games. But Marc and John managed to settle down after that and pick up their play taking the third and shifting some of that pressure back onto the other side of the court. It was a tight 4^th game, John and Scott having to fend off the impending comeback, they kept the ball tight and waited for their opportunities to open. A few well timed drop-shots from Scott at the end of the game secured the 3-1 victory, giving John Mann and Scott Beals their first Club Championship title and – no doubt - 12 months of John constantly reminding us of that fact…!

Doubles Open

The big one. The bracket that eternally immortalizes the winners into DAC history. Eleven teams vying for the accolades, only one will be left standing. Top seeds were last year’s winners Jed Elley and Ryan Covell and it would be difficult to see them not reach the final. Their most demanding trial would be their semifinal against the never to be underestimated team of Robin Basil and his partner, 4-time DAC Doubles champion Peter Logan.

Did Jed and Ryan actually commit the sin of taking this match too easy? One could argue that after the first 2 games because before they knew what had hit them, they were in a deep 2-0 hole, scratching their heads wondering what in Hades was going on. A monumental task to fight back, but Jed and Ryan got to work immediately at the start of that 3^rd game and turned it around. As quick as they had been pummeled in the first 2, the next 2 games was a mirror image and it was now Peter and Robin’s turn to try and figure out a solution to the onslaught. And suddenly, at the start of the 5^th game, the momentum changed again. The Logan / Basil team reignited their game 1 and 2 form, and raced off to a 9-3 lead. It was enough – just – to hold off the last ditch effort of the Elley / Covell unit that were in desperation mode to hold onto their title. At 7-14 down, they got it back to 13-14 before a tin ended their 2019 campaign. We would have a Doubles Champion this year – Peter and Robin moved onto the final.

Second seeds this year went to John Rakolta and George Kordas. Last year’s finalists and based on their DAC Classic performance this past February, John and George deserve that position but they would be tested tremendously in the semifinal against Vikram Chopra and Stefan Houbtchev, the new ‘power couple’ in the doubles world of the DAC, but still yet to really prove their mettle. As it turned out, it didn’t take long for Stefan and Vikram to stamp their authority over the 2016 champions. The first game was a tight 15-14, but then they were overly threatened the rest of the way home. It was a 3-0 victory and they were looking hard to beat.

Robin Basil, Vikram Chopra, Stefan Houbtchev, Peter Logan

For the final, my money was certainly on the Houbtchev / Chopra duo. I think Peter and Robin will undoubtedly provide the biggest challenge for them, but I don’t see enough arsenal in their bag of tricks to outlast the court coverage and hard hitting of Stefan and Vikram. The first game proved that to be true, the Houbtchev / Chopra team kept their noses in front by 3 to 4 points pretty much the whole way and took it 15-12. If Peter and Robin were to make and type of waves in this match, they could not afford to go 2 games to love down. They came out in the second game strongly, steadier, less unforced errors and suddenly the pressure was on Stefan and Vikram to shoot. Mistakes started to appear, giving Logan / Basil the jump they were looking for, and they held the advantage until late into the game. Unfortunately, they couldn’t maintain that tactic and they faltered, letting Stefan and Vikram to catch up and get to 14-all, where they needed just one serve to convert. It was a gut punch. The third game was a facsimile of the first, except that it ended up 15-11. A good quality final and the 3-0 win gives both Vikram and Stefan their first DAC Club Championship Doubles title! Well done guys!