2018 DAC Singles Club
Championships
Age. They say it’s just a number. I like to remind my wife
that she is older than I am. Unfortunately, appearances contradict that
seemingly irrelevant fact and virtually anyone who has functioning eye-balls
would never think it were true. They also say you are as old as you feel. That
would explain the desperate urges I have at the end of the work week to drive
my car home at walking speed, play bingo, eat dinner at 5pm, and search for
retirement flats in Florida.
Looking over the list of singles finalist this year, this “age” thing haunts me. In 2005 – my first
year at the DAC for the club championships – I was younger than all the finalists except for 2… this year, I am older than all the finalists except for
just one! Makes me want to hoist my pants up to my armpits, yell cranky insults
to my neighbors, and join an aqua-aerobics class.
2.5 – The Young Guns
There used to be a time when I could get up at 5.30am, go
for a run, play some squash, go to school, head to the courts, play more
squash, play a league match, then go to bed late and repeat the curriculum the
following day. Now, I’d be lucky to get through the above list in a calendar
year. The young up and comers of the club grudgingly remind me of days past as
now I am one of those geezers that can only spit out the snide remarks of, “back when I was your age…” or, “I remember one time many, many years ago…”
The 2.5 category is getting crowded with baby-faces, and this year they were
not bowing down to their elders in respect.
This wasn’t the biggest draw, but 25 players is still a
decent amount. Let’s skip to the quarter finals where all four match-ups
featured one aforementioned “up and comer” versus a more seasoned… ‘veteran’ of
the game. Pacing one’s self is overrated, and the more inexperienced players
will tend to blindly run after any and every ball regardless of their physical
status at the time. Mark Montgomery
was a perfect example. Mark would be on the ‘veterans’ side of the equation
here, and he wasn’t complaining but more stating a fact, that he would be
winning the games against Andrew Peleman
but simply couldn’t close them out and he’d fade away as Andrew continued
motoring through. If only the games were to 8 instead of 11, right? I didn’t
get the run down from all the quarter finalsJust , but it would be a pretty
safe bet that similar story lines would have come out. In all the matches, the
younger player got through.
My secret hope would be for Julie Vande Vusse to reach the final. It would be terrific to have
the first woman represent us for next year’s Farris Cup. Unfortunately that
scenario is now unlikely and we can all thank Colin Casey for that! Colin of course only thought about himself in
this situation, no consideration for the good of the sport as a whole, and he
selfishly won his semifinal against Julie 3-1. Maybe we can make him wear a
skirt…? Colin actually did extremely well to get to the final. He certainly
wasn’t seeded to, and he was probably just as surprised as everyone else!
His opponent would be Andrew
Peleman. At least I think its Andrew. His brother Matt could turn up for
all we know and we’d be none the wiser… maybe they tag-teamed in the middle of
matches and swapped out after each game to keep fresh…? Andrew had an all-out
battle royale with Henry Gembis in
his semi, a bone-breaking, lung-smashing, brain-exploding, gut-spilling 12-10
in the 5th blood-bath.
Strangely, although Andrew and Colin share the same club
ranking they have actually never played each other. Were we in for more
carnage? Depends on who you ask. Colin would say it was an annihilation of
sorts, a slaughterhouse that would match the infamous movie “House of a 1000 Corpses”. Andrew, on the
other hand, may describe it as “just a
normal Thursday”. In his nonchalant manner, Andrew, in passing, politely
reported his 3-0 win, clearly an over the top outburst for just becoming a club
champion!
3.0 – More Young Guns
This was the largest of the draws for the club championships
with 27, and once again we were witnessing the barely out of teenage years spring
chickens run roughshod over their cherished seniors. There was no easy path to
the final, no favorite that was making a statement, 17 of the 25 matches played
(that does not include the final) went either 3-1 or 3-2.
Shout out here to Han
Peng. Han won the 2.5 category last year and has continued to steadily
improve. His first round was against none other than Boo-Super-Bat-Captain-Steffen-America-Man-Yah-Dude… and it
was a rip-roaring 5-set 12-10 in the 5th donnybrook with Han
defeating the humbled Dewey who then decided wining a title on the racquetball
court would be an easier task as he headed off towards court 3, glove in hand.
Han then took down the second seeded Mike
Ottaway 3-1, a victory that Han admitted surprised even himself.
Heading into the quarter finals, Han would have to clash
with one of his new nemeses in Mario
Ferrini. Mario is relatively new to the game and is another one of those “young” people. He is learning quickly,
and has already proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with for this
event, as he brushed aside a couple of other “young” members in rounds one and two with 3-1 wins. This score line
was also 3-1, but by the looks on their faces between games, it probably felt
like they played 15 games instead of just 4. Mario pulled through, and
continued that momentum in the semifinal as well with his fourth 3-1 victory,
this time over Mike Parker.
Meeting Mario in the final would be Mack Gembis. Mack’s journey to this point was even more treacherous
than Mario’s. His quarter final was tough enough against the number one seeded Jeff Frost and he scraped past that
3-2, his younger legs getting him over the finish line. Those young legs
wouldn’t be much of an advantage in his semifinal since Brandon Tasco owns a similar model of them. The two tested them out
to their full capacity, Mack taking a 2-0 lead before Brandon fought back to
2-all, only to have Mack close it out in the 5th.
The final Mack v Mario would potentially be another barn-leg-burner,
and another final between two members that haven’t met on a squash court
before. The potential never materialized. Mack probably figured it was easier
to win 3-0 rather than to drag it out into some romper-stomper 5-set brouhaha.
Mario didn’t quite know what hit him, and before he could absorb the assault,
Mack was shaking his hand for the 3-0 win. In Mario’s own words: “I got killed!”
3.5 – Semi-Young Guns
But no less competitive. Let’s start with Rich Stimson. Rich has been a staple
item in the DAC squash world since I started here, but he has yet to win a
singles club champs title. The closest he has come was losing the final of the
3.5 in 2009 to George Kordas. Always
a fiery contender, Rich will not go down without a fight, a stubbornness that
it a very helpful virtue to own. No easy victories for Rich on his path to the
final, a 3-1 win in the first round was followed up with his scariest moment
against Scott Beals who almost
knocked him out in 5, and then a solid 3-1 shake down against the second seeded Jay Poplawski in the semis.
His opponent would be Brian
Ellison. A season of comebacks of sorts, Brian struggled with an injury
last summer but has managed to return with almost no ill-effects and has put up
some decent results as proven with this event. That being said, he did almost
stumble in round 1, almost crashing out in 5 to Patrick Petz who no doubt drove him half way to the nut house with
his backhand drops. That constant ball placement into the front corners
undoubtedly prepared Brian for his next opponent – Paul Van Tol – who is also no stranger to taking the ball in short
every chance he gets, and sometimes every chance he doesn’t get. Since Brian
was half way to the looney bin already, Paul did everything he could to send
him the rest of the journey. He
almost succeeded but Brian saved himself from being committed with another 3-2
victory. That experience perhaps made the semifinal match against Joey Gaylord seem like a Sunday morning
stroll, a more conventional style that still made Brian work hard enough to
overcome, but didn’t twist his brain into somersaults. Brian 3-1.
Stimson v Ellison… there haven’t been any recorded results
between these two players either. Rich took control of the match early. And
Brian struggled. He couldn’t find his timing, he couldn’t find his length, he couldn’t
find any answers. Rich was not letting him off the hook – at least for the first
2 and half games and he raced to a 2-0, 8-4 lead in the third. Three points
from the end, the tables, for some unknown reason, turned. Maybe it was because
Brian had nothing left to lose, and threw caution to the wind. Who knows? Rich certainly
couldn’t place his finger on it. But the comeback was in the works and before
Rich knew what was happening the roles reversed. Then tiredness set in the
longer the match lasted. By the 5th game Brian had all the control and
it was just a matter of finishing the job. Rich was so close, but it was Brian
getting away with the 3-2 victory!
4.0 – At Last… A
Veteran!
Thank you, John
Roarty! Defying the odds, going against all the trends, John Roarty has given all of us “old” players some whisper of hope that
all is not doom and gloom. I was certainly skeptical of John reaching the final
even though I had him seeded second, seeing that he would have to beat John Rogers in the semifinal to get
there. I figured John Rogers would
out-run him, just keep him on court too long. However, underestimation is a
dangerous ploy and he may have forgotten that John Roarty can actually put the ball away if you hand him the
opportunity to do so. Keeping the ball in play is one thing, but you still have
to hit tight. John Rogers will take
this 3-1 loss as a learning experience no doubt, but at least he can take some
comfort that he did beat John Roarty
in the Doubles B final a month ago.
 |
| David de la Torre and John Roarty |
On the other side of the draw we have the man of a thousand
nicknames – the buzz-saw in David de la
Torre. The hard hitting Rico Suave
– I mean David – tore through the top half with a strong 3-1 win over Mike Petix and then a convincing 3-0
mauling of Brian Bartes. Nacho Libre has been progressing
consistently this season, he loves to hit the ball hard and low, and if he
could eventually incorporate an effective short game, he could be challenging
the higher levels very quickly and effectively too. He would need to be careful
with John though, the wily veteran would have learnt plenty about his game in
their recent box ladder encounter that El
Chapo won 3-2. It’s the only time they have played each other.
El Macho was
ready. Straight away, he applied the pressure to John, ready to jump on any and
all of his drops, any and all of his tricky angles, and any and all of his
beers he had sitting outside the court. There wasn’t a lot John could do, and
even though he couldn’t match the form he displayed in his semifinal, credit
must also be given to El Guapo for
not allowing him to either. He wasn’t taking any prisoners and it was a quick
3-0 victory to the Ecuadorian!
4.5 – Young-ish Guns
I’ll start off here by tipping my hat to Dane Fossee. Dane may be a little
insulted, but based on his performances this season – which have been erratic
at best – I wasn’t overly convinced on his ability to reach the final. He
proved me wrong. I am sure though, Dane had every bit of confidence in himself
to win, which of course is the more important factor. What I think is inconsequential. In my (poor) defense, Dane didn’t
exactly breeze through his half of the draw. His first match was a 3-2 win over
Brien Baker and his semifinal win
was another 3-2 win, this time against Chuck
Hamill. Hitting form at the right time is what it’s all about, clearly Dane
was using his Boasters League matches as a simple tune-up and adjustment period
for the big time tournaments. This would be Dane’s first time in reaching a
club championship final.
Standing in his way to the title was JC Tibbitts. JC hasn’t won a club championship title either, but he
was a finalist in 2014. There he lost the 2.5 final to John Mann, a result I am sure John has never let JC forget. JC had
very little trouble reaching the final here, not losing any games. His 3-0 win
in the semifinal against Jay Bonahoom
made a compelling argument that JC should head into the final against Dane as
the favorite. Jay had been playing rather well and prior to the semifinal had
beaten JC 3 out of last 5 times they had played.
 |
| Dane Fossee and JC Tibbitts |
Dane and JC had also never played each other… oh hang on,
check that. They play each other all
the time… In fact, they have 21
recorded results with JC holding a 12-9 margin. In reality, this could go
either way. In arguably the best match of the evening, the two put on a show
that kept many viewers away from the Open final which was being played at the
same time. Dane skipped to a 2-0 lead and it looked like he was about to pull
off an unlikely 3-0 whitewash. But JC wasn’t done. He couldn’t possibly allow
Dane to get away with such an easy victory – he had only lost to Dane 3-0 once
before and was almost 2 years ago - and he scratched his way back into the
contest. Slowly but surely, JC narrowed the margin, then evened it up at 2
games each, applying the pressure directly back onto Dane’s shoulders. Pushing through
the exhaustion, Dane responded in a last ditch effort for the 5th
and stepped up to the task. A fully deserved victory, Dane claimed his first
DAC club champ title!
5.0 – Younger Guns
Again
If I had a second hat, I would tip this one to Chris Van Tol. Chris won the 4.5 club
championships last year with a superb 3-2 win in the final over Mark Gregory. Definitely earning his
card into the 5.0, I knew he could be competitive, but I truly didn’t think he
would reach the final.
His first round was tough enough, Colin Bayer can be an awkward customer but Chris is somewhat of a
bugaboo for Colin since he has never lost to him. He almost did here, but
almost doesn’t get you the win. Chris’s 3-2 win then had him up against the
number 1 seed Andy Adamo who lost
the final 11-9 in the 5th last year to Blake Ellis and was certainly looking to go one better this year.
Regrettably for Andy, he fell ill at the wrong time (when is there a right time to get sick…?) and Chris took
advantage. For the record, Chris has beaten Andy before, so it wasn’t as if
this was a freak upset anyway.
The semifinal was then against Steve Brown which mentally would have been the more difficult
challenge. In the 3 previous meetings, Chris has never beaten Steve, in fact he
had only won 1 game total. Steve took out the dark horse of the event Tom MacEachern 3-2 in the quarter
final, showing that his new svelte figure is paying dividends. Except Chris
wasn’t intimidated and he was ready. Ready for pay-back. In what must have been
an awfully satisfying performance, he sliced and diced himself to a 3-0 victory
and a spot in the final. I doubt the performance was as satisfying for Steve.
 |
| Riley English and Chris Van Tol |
Riley English is
the new(ish) kid on the block in this division, Fast runner, hard hitter, he is
another player that could well use an active short game to seriously advance
his game – a short game I know he is working on since I see him regularly on
the coaching court! Riley’s track to the final was not easy either. His first
round win was in 5 tough games against Mark
Gregory before taking care of Paul
Ward 3-1 in the semifinal. Paul eliminated the other dark horse of the
category – Jason Currie – in three
straight games – a result that raised the eye-brows of most of us based on the
hot form Jason carried with him into this tournament.
Riley and Chris have played 3 times with Riley winning
twice. On paper, again I have to lean towards Riley, but Chris keeps on defying
me so I’m leaning towards Riley only slightly. More an uncertain head tilt. The
first game took 4 hours… or it seemed to. We were wondering in the crowd if
they had actually played the first game already and decided to continue without
rest for the second, but no, the first game was ongoing. Riley was demonstrating
just how fast he can be, reaching some drop shots he had no business being anywhere
near, extending some rallies that should have ended multiple shots prior. Chris
ended up winning that game 18-16, but at what price? In a classic example of “losing the battle, but winning the war”,
the effort Chris had to exert for game 1, cost him dearly in games 2, 3 and 4.
Riley didn’t slow down much – and I actually witnessed a couple of drop shots
from him (!) – he could see Chris was tiring. He still put up a grand effort,
but he couldn’t stop the freight train that was Riley English. 3-1 to the speedster!
Open – The Same Ol’
Guns
It’s no surprise that the Open final will once again – for
the 4th consecutive year – be between Vikram Chopra and Jed Elley.
These two have certainly been our standouts over the years, and so far Jed has
slight edge winning two club championship titles to Vikram’s one. Of course
they have alternated wins over the years and if that is anything to go by,
Vikram should have the upper hand this time.
 |
| Jed Elley and Vikram Chopra |
There were no upsets in this category, although there were a
couple of very close almost upsets.
Life may be treating him spectacularly in Montana these days, but maybe his
squash has taken a fraction of a dive, Peter
Logan was close to bowing out in his first match but he survived the huge
scare against George Kordas escaping
with a 3-2 victory. The other ‘shocker’ would have changed the final. Jed Elley was cruising against Robin Basil in the semifinal, 2-0 up
and sniffing distance from victory in the 3rd before it all came
crumbling down for the next two games. Robin found inspiration somehow, Jed
forgot how to win for a while and before either knew what was happening, it was
2 games all. Luckily for Jed, he found his sanity in the 5th and
made sure he finished out the match in proper fashion.
There are 8 recorded results between Jed and Vikram. And it
stands 4 wins apiece. Predictions? Reluctantly, I’ll put my neck out and
forecast an Elley win… which may have just condemned him. The first game we saw
Jed in control. Sharp movements into the front corner, enough patience to keep
the ball tight, making sure of the ‘winning’ shots when the opportunity
presented itself. Vikram on the other hand seemed to have a little trouble
keeping it close to the walls, and was taking the ball in short too early in
the rallies. Jed looked in command at 1 game to zero.
From the second game onwards, the style of the squash
changed. Not really from Vikram’s point of view – he continued to play his hard
hitting ways, but more from Jed’s perspective. For some reason, he was sucked
into the fatal trap of trying to out-hit his opponent. Not too many players in
this club – if any, and including myself – hit the ball harder than what Vikram
can. But Jed sure did try. Unfortunately, his length and tightness suffered
terribly and what was thoughtful squash one game ago turned into a slugfest
now. You simply cannot leave the ball loose for someone of Vikram’s power – he will
put it away. And he did.
It was a spiral downwards and Jed could not stop the rot.
Vikram pounced on all the loose shots, Jed was left with little option but
watch the ball rip past him for winners. The last 2 games were not very close,
Vikram was in charge the whole way, and he was the better player on this occasion,
fully earning the 3-1 win. Congratulations to Vik for claiming his second DAC
Club Championship title!
An outstanding night of finals squash! Well done to all the
winners and finalists – and remember, your job isn’t yet complete. You all get
to represent the DAC at next year’s Farris Cup where we need you all to step it
up even more to beat those challengers from the BAC. Keep swinging your
racquets over the summer!
