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Sotheby's Realty
International Squash Doubles
31-March - 02 April, St. Louis |
02-Apr-06:
Twelve National Doubles Champions Crowned
Beth Rasin reports
The shot making was fast and furious at the Racquet Club of St. Louis as
12 national championships were claimed on the concluding day of play at
the Sotheby’s International Realty US Doubles Squash Championships.
Top seeds Pochi Holdefer and Alicia McConnell of Colorado Springs
successfully defended their Women’s Open title, although they dropped the
first game, 10-15, of the highly anticipated final against McConnell’s
former doubles partner Demer Holleran and recent US Mixed Doubles titlist
Meredeth Quick.
“We know each other‘s games quite well,” said McConnell, referring to
former partner Holleran with whom she won eight national doubles titles.
”In the end, I think the margin of victory was that we played all the big
points really well, not just today, but all week-end.”
The Colorado duo, who won all three games in their semifinal match in
tiebreakers, fell behind 6-11 in the fourth game of the final after
winning the second and third games. After climbing back to 13- all,
Holdefer hit two winners and McConnell clinched the tiebreak and the
championship victory with a through-the legs desperation shot that dropped
for a winner.
The top seeds in the Men’s Open, Canadian Gary Waite and
Aussie Damien Mudge, took a 2-0 lead and appeared to have the match
well in hand. But the blistering pace that is the trademark of the 6’5”
Mudge’s game disappeared midway into the third game as a result of a back
injury.
The unseeded finalists, Jamie Bentley of Canada and Paul Price of
Australia, took full advantage of the opportunity to win the next two
games, 15-9 and 15-13. As Mudge battled back, his partner Waite stepped in
with several critical reflex volley winners in the fifth game to clinch
the championship and their sixth tour win of the season.
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Men’s Open
(1) Gary Waite (CAN)/Damien Mudge (AUS) def. Jamie Bentley
(CAN)/Paul Price (AUS)
15-12, 15-13, 9-15, 13-15, 15-11
Women’s Open
(1) Pochi Holdefer (Colorado Springs, CO)/ A. McConnell (Colorado
Springs, CO) def. (2) Demer Holleran (Philadelphia, PA)/Meredeth Quick (NY,NY)
10-15, 15-12, 15-11, 16-14
Men’s A
(1) Whitten Morris (NY, NY)/Michael. Ferreira (NY, NY) def Dave
Rosen (Baltimore, MD)/Ross Revenaugh (San Francisco, CA) 15-10, 15-11,
15-10
Women’s 40+
Sara Luther (Denver, CO)/Joyce Davenport (Philadelphia, PA) def.
Leslie Freeman (CAN)/Robbin Morrison (CAN) 13-15, 5-15, 15-8,
15-11,15-11
Men’s 40+
John Conway (NY,NY)/ Bill Villari (Atlanta, GA) def. Ed Chilton
(Wilmington, DE)/Andrew Slater (Scituate,MA) 11-15,12-15,
17-14,15-14,18-16
Men’s 45+
Todd Binns (Denver,CO)/John Boldt (St. Louis, MO) def. Jamie
Heldring (Wayne,PA)/Peter DeRose (Buffalo,NY) 15-5,15-11, 16-13
Men’s 50+
(2)Robert Massey (Crystal, MN)/Robert Hensel (Plymouth, MN) def.
(1)Graeme Duff (CAN)/Jay Gillespie (CAN) 15-11,15-12,11-15,15 -2
Men’s 55+
(1)Gordon Anderson (Clarence, NY)/Michael Pierce (Vero Beach, FL)
def. (2) Victor Harding (CAN)/Sean McDonough (CAN) 15-10,14-18,
15-12,15-7
Men’s 60+
(2)Tom Poor (Norwel, MA)/Leonard Bernheimer (Palm Beach, FL) def.
(1) Peter Hatcher/Michael Manley 12-15,10-15,15-8,15-12,15-11
Men’s 65+
Michael Wilson (CAN)/David Bogert (CAN) def. John Amos (Santa Fe,
NM)/ Don Mills (Terrace Park, OH) 12-15,11-15,15-11,15-12,15-10
Men’s 70+
Peter Holland (CAN)/Norman Seagram (CAN) def Charles Stehle (Lower
Gwynedd, PA)/ J. Ritchie Bell (CAN) 15-9, 15-12, 9-15, 15-12
Men’s 75+
Paul Fisher (Lafayette, CA) /Michael McBean (CAN) def. Ron Holtman
(St. Louis, MO)/Ted Hoffman (St. Louis, MO) 15-11,15-11,15-13
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01-April, Day Two:
Smashing Shotmaking on
Sotheby's Day Two
Beth Rasin reports
 Top seeds
Gary Waite of Canada and Aussie Damien Mudge, who have dominated
the men’s professional doubles tour for the past four years, dropped a
surprising first game to unseeded Scott Butcher of Canada and England’s
Clive Leach before getting back on track to with a four-game victory to
reach the finals of the Sotheby’s International Realty US Doubles Squash
Open Championship.
The 40-year-old Waite displayed his trademark
competitiveness while partner Damien Mudge assaulted the ball with
blistering pace to take command of the match.
Their finals opponents will
be the unseeded duo of Canadian Jamie Bentley and Aussie Paul
Price, who
defeated #4 seeds Willie Hosey of Ireland and Canadian Mike Pirnak 15-7,
15-11,18-15.
WOMEN OPEN
Savvy strategic play marked both semifinals of the Women’s Open
Championship draw. Defending champions Alicia McConnell and Pochi Holdefer
eked out three tiebreakers in their four-game victory over Canadians
Jessica DiMauro and Seanna Keating.
“Just one point made all the
difference in the match,” said nine-time national doubles titleholder
McConnell, referring to the error by Keating in the second game at 4-4 in
the tiebreak. “If they had won that point, we would have been two games
down instead of one-all.”
Although the Canadians won the first game in
commanding fashion at 15-5 and jumped out to early leads in the next three
games, the defending champions played patient squash and scored on the big
points.
McConnell and Holdefer will meet second seeds Demer Holleran and Meredeth
Quick in the finals. Holleran, who also has nine doubles championships to
her name (eight of them with McConnell) and Quick defeated Canadians Karen
Jerome and Stephanie Hewitt 15-6, 16-13, 17-18, 15-9. |
ALL PHOTOS BY DAVID
BARRY
Women’s Open –Semifinals
(1) P. Holdefer/A. McConnell (Colorado Springs, CO) bt J.
DiMauro/S. Keating (CAN)
5-15, 16-15, 18-17, 18-16
(2) D. Holleran (Philadelphia, PA)/M. Quick (NY,NY) bt S.
Hewitt (CAN)/K. Jerome (CAN)
15-6,16-13,17-18,15-9
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Men’s A – Semifinals
(1) W. Morris/M. Ferreira (NY, NY) bt (4) T. Catalan/K. Jernigan (San Francisco, CA)
15-11,8-15,15-5,10-15,15-6
D. Rosen (Baltimore, MD)R. Revenaugh (San Francisco, CA)
bt Alex Dean/Erik Wohlgemuth (San Francisco, CA)
15-10,15-5,12-15,15-11. |
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Mar 31- St Louis:
Seeds Stutter in
Sotheby's
Quarters
The balls were flying
fast and furious at the Sotheby’s International US Doubles Squash
Champions in
St. Louis as two seeded teams
were eliminated in men’s quarterfinal play.
After
splitting the first two games in tiebreakers, Scott Butcher and
Clive Leach eliminated third-seeded Vicktor Berg and Chris Walker by
nabbing the third and fourth games 15-4, 15-8. The
bigger upset of the evening came as second seeds Preston Quick, and Ben
Gould were upended by Paul Price and Jamie Bentley in four
games.
Price and Bentley next
play fourth seeds Willie Hosey of
Ireland and Canadian
Mike Pirniak. After dropping the second game, the fourth seeds had
to win a tiebreaker in each of the next two games to secure the victory
over Shane Coleman and Matt Jenson.
Top seeds Gary Waite and
Damien Mudge, who won 62 consecutive matches over 2 1/2 years before
their streak was broken this past November by Quick and Gould, advanced
with a 15-2, 15-9,18-14 win over local Missouri Athletic Club pro Mike
Puertas and his partner Nathan Dugan.
Alicia McConnell
and Pochi Holdefer began their title defence of the Women’s
Championships with a narrow 3-2 victory over Canadians Karen Jerome and
Stephanie Hewitt.
Demer Holleran, McConnell’s
former partner with whom she won eight national titles, returned to
national championship play after a one-year hiatus, teaming with partner
Meredeth Quick for an opening round 3-0 win over Canadians Jessica
DiMauro and Seanna Keating.
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Sotheby's Realty
International Squash Doubles, St. Louis
Men's Draw |
Round One
Mar 31 |
Quarters
Mar 31 |
Semis
Apr 01 |
Final
Apr 02 |
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[1]G. Waite (Can) & D.Mudge (Aus)
15/2, 15/9, 18/14
M. Puertas & N. Dugan |
G. Waite & D.Mudge
11-15, 15-10, 15-8, 15-12
S. Butcher & C. Leach |
G. Waite & D.Mudge
15/12, 15/13, 9/15, 13/15, 15/11
J. Bentley & P. Price |
M. Puertas (US) & N. Dugan (Eng)
15/11, 11/15, 15/12, 15/13
K. Yehia (US) & J. Pentland (US) |
S. Butcher (Can) & C. Leach (Eng)
w/o
D. Kay & Russel |
S. Butcher & C. Leach
[3] V. Berg (Can) & C. Walker (Eng) |
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[4] W. Hosey (Irl) & M. Pirnak (Can)
15/5, 12/15, 16/15, 16/13
S. Coleman & M. Jenson |
W. Hosey & M. Pirnak
15-7, 15-11,18-15
J. Bentley &
P. Price
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S. Coleman (US) & M. Jenson (US)
18/15, 15/11, 15/8
J. Hewitt (Can) & D. Lifford (US) |
J. Bentley (Can) & P. Price (Aus)
15/8, 15/7, 15/8
S. Scharff (US) & Deratny(Can) |
J. Bentley & P. Price
17/16, 11/15, 15/8, 15/11
[2] B. Gould (US) & P. Quick (US) |
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ALL PHOTOS BY DAVID BARRY |
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