2017 DAC Squash Classic - Feb 9-12
Let’s start at the beginning… Originally, there was
nothing. Then, for some reason, the universe popped into existence. Earth,
strangely, formed itself and somehow produced life… oh, hang on, I’m going a
little too far back… full forward to now… amoeba… dinosaurs… Handball… cavemen…
Larry King… Cher… America… DAC - Ah! here we are! The 2017 DAC Squash Classic
where the doubles entries took 5 days to fill and the singles only 7. I thought
my inbox was going to explode.
Before I get into the results, I would just like to take a
serious tone for a minute and shout out to a couple of the players this weekend
who unfortunately didn’t make it through unscathed. Patrick Seyferth
scared the living amoebas out of his opponent during their first round match on
Thursday as he took a head first tumble straight into the front wall,
completely knocking himself unconscious for roughly 60 seconds before coming to
and then realizing he had also dislocated his shoulder. A frightening situation
for all concerned, Patrick was taken to the emergency room and we can all be
very relieved that, although sore, he is on the way to a full recovery.
The other victim was Peter Logan who collected the
full brunt of a forehand follow-though on the doubles court directly to his
head, missing his eye by millimeters. A complete accident, but still a nasty
incident, Peter also went to the emergency room and again - thankfully -
nothing broken and no permanent damage expected. He will live with a beautiful
black eye for a while, but she too should make a full recovery. Peter was of
course wearing his eye guards (that ended up 20 feet away), a definite lesson
for anyone who thinks that this wouldn’t happen to them and we absolutely
always need to be on our guards and be careful out there!
Okay, let’s tackle the categories and see who ended up with
the hardware:
Singles 2.5:
I think upsets are wonderful. Unexpected winners make all events more
interesting. That being said, I also think that a woman winning a mixed event
is also wonderful and for this draw I had a feeling that London’s Victoria
Soo could have gone all the way. She reached the semifinal comfortably but
standing tall in her way was none other than Batman… I mean Dewey Steffen. Dewey
is nothing if not confident. You have to be if you are prepared to don
superhero attire on the court, and thankfully it’s not Captain Underpants. But,
give credit where credit is due. Dewey was impressive during this match, and
incredibly I did not hear one single “Boo-Yah!” the entire morning.
Maybe that helped him focus and he scrambled his way to a 3-1 victory,
retrieving shots that Victoria was certain were winners, using his power serve
well.
His finals opponent would be against the same fellow that
ended his 2016 DAC Classic tournament run - Haytham Hermiz. Haytham’s
run to the final wasn’t overly stressful, as he dropped only one game to get
there. Funnily enough, Haytham always seems genuinely surprised when he wins,
believing his opponent had a horrible day, or was critically injured, deathly
ill, incredibly unlucky… it certainly has nothing to do with the effort you are
putting in, right Haytham? That effort continued through the final. Two feisty
competitors, a very clean match and a tight result that really could have gone
either way. Haytham took the final 3-1, and with it a good load of confidence
that he does deserve to move up to the 3.0. For Dewey, he took the loss well,
he did have a successful weekend, some his Facebook friends turning his “Boo-Yah’s!”
into “Boo-Hoo’s!”… I’m sure Batman (or Superman.. or Wonder Woman?) will
be back for revenge.
Singles 3.0:
Here we had another opportunity for a women to win this category. Mercedes
Dollard from Pittsburgh certainly had the goods to do so but unfortunately
for her, she doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to practice much in the Steel
City. So she was coming into the event a little scratchy. She got through her
first match 3-0, and a lucky escape on the second match 3-2 to reach the semifinals.
There she had to tackle the unorthodox stylings of Shail Arora, who
ended up being this year’s Houdini act and marathon man all in one. Mercedes
was 2-0 up on Shail who knows no other way than to chase every shot down like
it was match-ball, and swing at it without too much care of which direction it
goes or which part of the racquet it connects with. I’ll probably never see his
racquet for a restring. His constant retrievals frustrated Mercedes and Shail
somehow managed to pull out the 3-2 win, and immediately wondered (regretted?)
how was he going to step up for the final.
David de la Torre was (sort of) standing in his way for
the title as he too had a busy day on the courts over the weekend (runner-up
for the Marathon Man title!) his body punishing him for the thrashing he was
putting it through. David dropped one game to reach the final, and on paper was
the favorite in this match. But Shail was defying the odds all weekend (as you
will read about in the doubles C) and made this an awful lot closer than what
we expected. The scramble tactic was effective, David had trouble getting too
comfortable. But that one extra game was a fraction too much for Shail’s legs
and Dave took the match 3-2.
Singles 3.5:
The biggest draw of the tournament, we had 30 players enter this one. It was
here where David de la Torre made his life in the 3.0 more difficult and
his success in the 3.5 gave him 4 more matches to contend with. He reached the semifinals
which was a little unexpected, before he succumbed to Mike Petix 3-0.
Mike appeared to be in good form this weekend, chewing up his opponents 3-0 or
3-1, the quiet achiever of the category. His finals opponent was also a very
friendly soft spoken young man, but he did manage to turn heads regardless - he’s
a switch hitter.
Max Surnow is completely ambidextrous. Hitting
to his backhand is literally impossible - I didn’t see him hit one all weekend.
Very unusual to say the least, Max can also cover the court rather quickly and
he likes to move into the front corners with a full head of steam only to tap a
delicate drop over and over for a winner. Max only lost one game on his way to
the final and Mike would have to be extremely careful giving Max anything loose
front to mid-court if he were to walk off the winner here. Regrettably, Mike wasn’t
careful enough. It’s easy to get sucked into playing someone else’s game - when
your opponent hits drops on you, you want to reciprocate and try to beat them
at their own game. It wasn’t all one way traffic though, Mike did win one game
and almost won a second, but Max was simply too steady in the end and took the
3-1 victory. For clarification sakes, it is not against the rules in squash to
switch hands - it’s not recommend and I think Max may find it a little more
difficult as he moves up the levels and the pace increases, but on the other
side of the coin it can throw the opponent off somewhat. What is against the
rules is walking on the court with 2 racquets… although it would make squash
more interesting if were allowed…
Singles 4.0:
The second biggest draw of the event, 26 players were battling it out. Joel
Vosburg was listed as the number one seed here being the first name on top
of the draw, and to be perfectly honest it had nothing to do with my ‘genius’ of
recognizing everyone’s ability - it was an unmitigated guess. I had no idea who
Joel was. I am regularly asked how I put the draws together and why players are
placed in certain spots on the draw. Seedings are (not always but for the most
part) totally irrelevant as since we have a 4 day event, the out-of-towners
generally cannot play on the Thursday and hence must be pushed forward in the
bracket. Simply the nature of the DAC Classic. Joel, though, proved me right!
Just. None of his matches were easy, none of them were 3-0. He reached the
final beating Mike Ethridge 3-1, an early Sunday morning semifinal
contest that Mike did really well just to get n court for after the Saturday
night festivities!
Joel’s opponent was London’s Marcus Plowright. A
regular visitor to the Classic, Marcus has yet to take a winner’s trophy home
with him, although he did get to the final back in 2012. Always competitive in
the 4.0, Marcus only dropped one game to reach the final which was to our own Colin
Bayer in the semis. Marcus has terrific court sense, knows where to place
the ball, and makes his opponents work corner to corner. You need to be fit and
prepared to run to get the best of him, the longer the match progresses the
better chance you’ll stand. Joel did just that. He put his nose to the grindstone
and ran down was what served up to him, eventually tiring out the more
experienced Marcus to take the 3-1 win.
Singles 4.5:
A very tough 4.5 draw this year. Our DAC players did not fair particularly well
here, not one of our players beat a non-DAC member. In fact out of the 8
members in the draw, they won one game between them under that scenario. Were
they out of their category? Well, no - but it is a little eye-opening for them
that once they step up into the these upper levels what type of squash is now
expected in order to be successful. They can compete, they just need to do it
more often.
Avinash Gali won the 4.0 category on 2015 and had
little trouble reaching the final here. On the opposite side of the draw, Abhay
Sood had almost identical results to get the final, the only mark on his
record was a game drop to BAC’s Mike Beauregard in the second round.
Avinash and Abhay played some impressive squash in the final, cracking the ball
around well, few unforced errors, long exchanges. It was almost a battle of who
could be more patient in the end, Abhay, though, a couple more shots in the bag
which made the difference and he scored the 3-1 victory. Both of these players
should be well positioned for a 5.0 run next year.
Singles 5.0:
Probably the most difficult of all the draws to predict, there were some
players in this category who I didn’t know. And they were good - three of them
reached the semifinals, and another was knocked out in 5 games in the first
round by the eventual runner-up (*bad* luck of the draw there!). DAC members
played well and put up solid resistance. George Kordas lost his second
match 3-1 to the winner of the category, and Sante Fratarcangeli lost
his third match to the finalist. No shame there.
The final was between Brendan Baker from Ann Arbor
and David Coate from London. It was the last match of the tournament and
as is customary at the DAC Classic after this monstrous work week, the final
match usually ends up going to 5 games. As it did here. A very entertaining
encounter, there was (clearly) not much between the 2 players and entering the
5th game is was anybody’s guess to who would end up winning. A dog-fight to the
end, Brendan walked off with the 3-2 victory, both though deserving the winner’s
trophy.
Singles 5.5:
A lot of interest in this category as we all at the DAC were fascinated to see
how good is Jed Elley’s brother really? Rumors going around said that Jason
would win the event, and my gut was telling the same. But my gut isn’t exactly
fool proof. It’s certainly not idiot proof.
Jason and Jed sound identical when they talk, that South
African accent is an Australian wannabe one, and they should eat more vegemite.
The Elley’s also produced identical 3-1 wins in their first rounds, setting up
much anticipated semifinals.
Jed took on 3-time DAC Classic winner Brad Hanebury
from London. I thought Jed played a great game, the rallies were long and hard,
few unforced errors. When Brad walked off the winner after a lengthy match, I
was rather surprised to see it was 3-0! I was sure Jed picked up at least one
game, the closeness of the two.
Jason on the other hand was in for a tougher time. Alex
Ford (also from London) is a tall young lad, and smacks the ball hard,
stretches far, and young legs tend to work for longer. Neck and neck for almost
an hour, the pair went at it. Jason is one cool cat though, never, ever, gets
ruffled, always in control of his movement and swing, and fantastic display of
efficiency. Maybe that fraction more experience saw him get over the line, but
the 3-2 win left an impressionable mark on all who witnessed it.
The final was not as close as predicted. Once again Jason
went about his business, methodical, effective, unflappable. Brad struggled to
keep patient, consistency just a little lacking. The 3-0 win was quicker than
expected and I have to admit that by this stage of the tournament, the squash
is simply a foggy mess to me, my focus waning. My apologies to Jason as I
handed him the runner-up trophy and suggested he come back next year to do one
step better. He had no idea what I was talking about, how do you improve on
winning the highest category of the tournament? My gut proved the idiot theory
perfectly.
Doubles C:
Alright. If anybody out there predicted the winners and finalists
of this event, then you need to move to Vegas. This was the Shail Arora /
Bruce Shaw show. Their quarter final match on Saturday was epic enough
coming from 0-2 down against Patrick Petz and John Mann to win
15-13 in the 5th, but apparently that wasn’t close enough for them. No sir.
Sunday morning semifinal would top that effort with a 15-14 in the 5th win
against London pair Laurie Arora / Greg Gillis. And their final? Well
who would have thought that challenging them at this point would be none other
than Double D himself Dave Devine and his long lost partner of
international flavor Sir Alan Howard from England. Dave and Alan also
amazed us all with their run into the final, 3-2 wins everywhere, defying all
the odds and putting many bookies out of business.
Shail and Bruce, Dave and Alan, the four went back and forth.
At this stage, it really didn’t matter who would win, they all have done a
remarkable job to be there. That of course means squat to the players on the
court. The 5th game was upon them and in the end, Bruce and Shail finished off
their dream run to claim the prize! It wasn’t 15-14, but no one cared. Well
done fellas!
Doubles B:
A more straight forward set up for this one. Kevin Furmanek and Andrew
Caille were heavily favored to win and they didn’t disappoint. It was
simply a fact to too much too often. Kevin is one strong unit, obviously the
hardest hitter in the draw and Andrew wasn’t far behind him. There is only so
much a team can absorb and Kevin and Andrew broke down everyone’s defenses
quickly and easily enough. They went through without dropping a game.
The DAC, however, did put up a good show. JC Tibbitts
and Jason Currie had a great upset win in the first round taking out the
experienced waiting of Tom Porter and Craig Woolson (Windsor)
3-2. Jason then had to withdraw due to an unexpected early arrival of his
child! A decent excuse (!), we hear baby and Mom are doing very well and we all
wish them the very best! Dane Fossee then jumped in to take his place
and a huge thank you to their next opponents Gary Sullivan and Arthur
Naregatsian for allowing the change. Sante Fratarcangeli and Manny
Tancer had a decent performance as well, reaching the final to play the buzz
saw Windsor team. They could have a good chance to win the B next year - Kevin
and Andrew will have to move up to the A.
Doubles A:
This would have been the strongest Doubles A draw we have seen and the DAC
Classic. The top teams put on an outstanding show and I hope that any of our
members who were watching were taking plenty of notes and learning. A clinic on
how to play the game, clear, avoid lets as much as possible, what angles you
should be aiming for…
You would be hard up to find a better team in the State
than Jon Uffelman and Mike Parks (BAC). It’s amazing the angles
they find, Mike is a genius at just that, Jon you could argue is just as
clever. They reached the final without losing a game - a tough task considering
the semifinal opponents in Brad Hanebury and Chris Boden
(London), who in any other year could win the event.
Rob Doherty (London) and Windsor pro Graeme
Williams teamed up to create another formidable combination. They won
easily first round and had to fight tooth and nail for the 3-2 semifinal won
over Londonites Alex Ford and Mike Blythe. Mike Blythe is Canada’s
answer to Mike Parks - just an uncanny sense of knowing where to place that
ridiculous winning angle.
The final was superb. In all likelihood, the best doubles A
match we have had at the DAC. Incredible rallies, breathtaking winners, the
intensity was high, the scores were close, the sportsmanship second to none.
Could not have asked for a better show. Jon and Mike edged it out 3-2, I am
sure that Rob and Graeme could hardly be too disappointed though. Excellent
stuff all round.
All that is left are the thank yous: To all the players -
your support and enjoyment of the weekend is what makes running it so worth the
effort. To the DAC staff - without you, it wouldn’t be possible at all. To the
sponsors - you have no idea what your continued support means to me and the
club. To Corey - awesome job my friend, I can lose less hair now that I know
you are here. Rob Barr, Nick Peet… thank you so much for all the help.
2018… weekend after the Superbowl. See you back at the DAC!
