Blitz Tournament
October 10 2014
For the first time in recorded history of the DAC, everybody
turned up on time for the start of an
event. At 2 minutes to 5pm, we had all competitors ready to go. Racquet in
hand, laces tied, beer in the other hand… oh, hang on… dang! We were one player short. The current 2-time reigning Blitz
Tournament champion, Sante Fratarcangeli,
was running late. And we were so close to making history!
But, as they say in show business, “the show must go on”, so
we started without him. The 20 players were split up into 4 groups of 5. A
couple of new players in the mix made the handicapping a little tricky.
Actually, it made it pure guess work. As it turned out, I was only off by a
smidge in the end, which I’ll take as a success even though the affected
party(s) wouldn’t. The ultimate goal is to have every match end up with a 15-14
score, proving my handicap correct. We had a handful.
 |
| Julie, Ian, Justin and Jon |
Group 1 had three 15-14 results. The first match of the
evening started beautifully with Mike
Counsman and JC Tibbitts going
at it. JC started off with 10 points and at the business end of the contest had
2 game balls at 14-13. However, he literally handed the win to Mike as he
tinned 2 drop shots that had a very good chance of being winners if they were
up. Mike’s second match was against new member Becket Marum. Becket’s handicap was also 10, and admittedly it was
a complete stab in the dark - I was hoping he would stand up to the task. And
he did. Even though he is new, Becket is picking up the game quickly. Scrappy,
but a hustler, he pick-pocketed enough points to take the game to a sudden
death rally. Mike still pulled it out 15-14, another nervous win.
Jon Dengel scored
the other 15-14 victory in the group, this one over Chip McDaniel. Chip had to give up 9 to start the game, and the two
players had some very nice exchanges. A couple of nasty unforced errors from
Chip ended up being the difference. When the final match of the group went on,
Jon had to play Mike. If Mike won, he would sweep the group. Jon needed to win
to force a 3-way tie. The 13 point handicap was more than enough for Jon. Three
rallies later, he walked off the 15-1 winner.
With 3 players tied with 3 wins each, and only 2 players
able to move on to the knock-out phase, straws were drawn to see who advanced.
Jon, who dominated Mike on the court, is terrible at pulling straws. He lost
out.
Group 2 would also have three 15-14 results. All of them to
the same player. And, he won the all as well! Paul Ward did this the hard way, taking Mike Rock (9 point handicap), Bret
Williams (8) and Paul Fershee
(12) to the brink of the upset only to yank it viciously away. Apparently, Paul
(Ward) likes to live on the edge. The other three players would end up with 2
wins apiece, helped out by the withdrawal of Alan Howard who tweaked his hamstring in his first match. It was a
merry-go-round of results with Paul (Fershee) beating Bret who beat Mike who
beat Paul (F). Again, straws would have to be drawn to see who from the three
could advance to the finals round. It must be something in the name, because
joining Paul Ward would be Paul Fershee!
 |
| Fashionista Sante Fratarcangeli. |
Group 3. Only one 15-14 score to mention here and that would
be between Julie Vande Vusse and Ian Edwards. Julie had 4 points to
start, Ian had 4 beers to start, and the pair couldn’t have been better
matched. The game could have begun 0-0, there wasn’t any clear dominating
player. Julie ended up with the win today, but Ian quickly found solace at the
keg. He was also a winner. Sweeping this group was the late comer Sante Fratarcangeli (current 2-time reigning Blitz Tournament
champion). Splendid in his all white spandex suit with red shorts, and the
splash of bright yellow on his shoes to complete the ensemble, Sante (current 2-time reigning Blitz Tournament
champion) had to make up for lost time and powered his way through the
group winning all of the games. They were close though, three of them were
15-13, the other 15-12. Sante (current
2-time reigning Blitz Tournament champion) was looking for the 3-peat. The
second player from the group to advance would again be decided by Lady Luck.
Three players were tied for second with 2 wins each. Mark Monaghan (who in Sante’s (current
2-time reigning Blitz Tournament champion) match had three full body dives
and one between the legs miracle shot out of the back right corner), Julie Vande Vusse and Ian Edwards. The better straw-drawer on
this occasion would be Mark.
Group 4. Another two 15-14 results came from this group. Bob Rogers gave up 8 points to Steve Murphy which was just enough for
Bob to win the sudden death 14-all point, and the second one actually went to
Steve who squeaked out the do-or-die rally against Esther Thomas who had a 7 point handicap going in. Bob would end up winning all 4 of his
matches, two of them 15-12. And for the 4th time in a row, we would
have to draw from the now worn-out straws to find the second finalist. Steve,
Justin Winkelman and Mike McCuish all had 2 wins each. Another carousel of
victories between the players: Steve beats Justin who beats Mike who beats
Steve… Fortune favored the McCuish for this one!
Fortune did not favor
the McCuish for the first finals match. His 5 point head start was not enough
to overcome the power volley of JC
Tibbitts who took him 15-10 and was building his momentum more and more
with every game. Would it be up to Sante (current
2-time reigning Blitz Tournament champion) to stop him? Ummm…. No. Sante (current 2-time reigning Blitz Tournament
champion) would be not have a chance to make it 3 in a row as the 12 points
he gave up to Paul Fershee was just
a little too much. Sante (current 2-time
reigning Blitz Tournament champion) got close though, but Paul took it
15-13. Jumping on court with JC, Paul’s 8 points was no match. JC was on a roll
and wasn’t going to give Paul any gifts, he wasn’t interested in playing more
rallies than he had to. It was 15-10 and JC moved on to the final.
 |
| Paul Ward and JC Tibbitts |
On the other half of the finals draw, a battle of acrobats, Bob Rogers bounced off a couple more
walls than Mark Monaghan did to take
that game 15-12. Bob’s next round was against Paul Ward (who, in his match, ran down too many balls for Mike Counsman, helped also with the 4
point head start). Bob took on Paul with a 6 point lead, both players pleading
their case to change the handicap in their favor. I wasn’t budging, and the two
went hard. Both renowned for running, it wasn’t smooth sailing for either, but
the consistency of Paul would be the telling factor. 15-12.
Two tired players for the final. I handed JC 8 points to
start the game, wanting to put a little extra pressure on Paul. But the effort
by JC leading up to this point proved to be fatal. He hit the wall. Hard. In
fact, I think it knocked him over. In hindsight, I should have given JC 13
points, which would have been ludicrous. All Paul had to do was keep the rally
going and he did 15 of 16 times. He took the final 15-9. Paul Ward takes his second Blitz Tournament title – his first way
back in March 2009. In the 3rd / 4th play-off, Bob Rogers edged out Paul Fershee 15-13.
It was a great evening. Not sure if the keg ended up dead or not, but a
huge effort was made to do so. Thank you to all for such a smooth running
event!
