By Ed Chilton, National Junior Squash Doubles Tournament Director
Devin McLaughlin saw more rubber than at a tire factory en route to the Boys Under 19 title of the National Junior Doubles Championships held at Wilmington Country Club, May 1-2, 2010. Daniel Judd and Daniel Sneed were unmercifully pounding balls to the left wall in an attempt to isolate McLaughlin, and to ice Andrew McGuinness on the right. McLaughlin was hanging out behind the short line due to Sneed’s cross-court depth and then was repeatedly beaten short by well executed straight drops from Judd. With McLaughlin hitting all the balls, one would think that McGuinness would freeze up. Not so, as he seemed to keep the chill at bay with very tight reverse corner winners out of the air and off the ground. Not that he saw many balls, but when he did, the rally was over. Judd and Sneed, therefore, kept everything to the left. Ultimately, Mcguinness began to sneak over to the left and cover short for Devin. He was able to hit firm rails down the left wall to pass Judd, as well as a few low cross-courts to beat Sneed short. In the end, Judd seam to tire, most likely due to his five-game barn burner in the semi’s against Jim Kacergis and Peter Lynn. With the rallies being extended and good execution by McGuinness, he and McLaughlin prevailed 15-7, 13-15, 18-16, 17-18, 15-8.
Chris Deratnay, Paul Deratnay and Tammie Sangster-Deratnay brought six juniors from Toronto, Ontario, to add to the other 62 players that participated in the event. Our neighbors to the north drove in on Friday and then made the trek back on Sunday. A big effort and greatly appreciated. The Canadians participated in the girls Under 17, boys Under 17, Under 15 and mixed Under 19. There were also juniors from Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
In the girls under 17, Hanna Grover and Madison Sangster-Newbury of Toronto had worthy adversaries in the single match of the division against Olivia Fiechter and Sabrina Sobhy. Fiechter and Sobhy volleyed and shot well to win 3-0. In the girls Under 13/11 Round Robin Division, Sawyer Chilton and Morgan Steelman proved too strong for the two slightly younger teams of Jane Lyons and Maggie Podolsky and Lydia and Charlotte Brownell, all of Wilmington (DE). Chilton and Steelman won all their matches 3-0 with Lyons/Podolsky finishing second after beating the Brownells in three close games.
Boys Under 17 first seeds, Alex and Peter McCall (Philadelphia), won 16-15 in the fifth in a fantastic semifinal match against Torontonians, Thomas Osbourne and Eric Stephenson. Some very long, well-contested rallies kept this match a nail biter right down to the last point. In the next round though, the McCall’s could not take the final match against Randy Beck and Auggie Frank, who controlled their semifinal against Reid Breck and Mark Dudzik. Beck and Frank prevailed in the final 16-14, 15-11, 6-15, 15-11.
The Boys Under 15 added to the excitement of Sunday’s lengthy finals. Kevin Flannery and Jamie Ruggiero defeated Thomas Dembinski and Anders Larson in a thrilling five gamer. The two teams traded well-contested points and games, with Larson and Flannery hitting many of the balls. Ruggiero was very steady and showed no emotion. One would not be able to tell he was playing for a National Doubles Championship which he and his partner won 15-12, 11-15, 15-10, 11-15, 15-12. Callen Fullerton and Menelaos Mazarakis put up a good fight against John Fitzgerald and Senen Ubina in the 3/4 playoff, but came up short losing 12-15, 15-10, 15-12, 15-9.
Boden Polikoff and David Yacobucci swept the Boys Under 13 round robin. Their toughest match was on Sunday against Christopher Daglish and Alex Dworetsky, where they held on to win two overtime games that could have changed the outcome of the round robin format. Will Hagen and Sean Oen finished second as they had secured wins against Brett Anderson and Patrick Lyons as well as Dworetsky and Daglsih.
Bo Anderson and Peter Miller of Wilmington and Philadelphia, respectively, were sharper than Ginsu knives as they sliced and diced the competition in the Boys Under 11’s Championship. They managed to lose just 19 total points in their two matches against Thomas Elliot and Robby Ward and Platon Mazarakis and Arin Mukherjee. Mazarakis and Mukherjee finished second after defeating Elliot and Ward in three games.
The draws that most people enjoy watching and playing are the Mixed divisions. With just one draw this year, there were eight teams competing in the Under 19’s. The juniors have very competitive, fun, and social matches. This year’s winners were Amanda Sobhy and Andrew McGuinness who defeated Alexandra Sawin and Jim Kacergis 3-0. Auggie Frank and Olivia Fiechter finished third in front of Thomas Osbourne and Madison Sangster-Newbury. The 5/6 playoff was a big five-game barn-burner featuring four Philadelphians. Matthew Cooper and Tiffany Hau defeated Ethan Moritz and Emely Levyn 3-2.
This event was sponsored and supported by the Elmaleh Project, Harrow Sports, U.S SQUASH and the U.S. SQUASH Doubles Committee. The project, dubbed “Doublescool,” is made possible by the generosity of the 1968 US Open Doubles Champion, Victor Elmaleh. Elmaleh wants to pass his love and passion for doubles on to the next generation of squash players. The project is directed by Gary Waite whose support for the game has been instrumental in helping grow the sport at the grass roots level and reviving the number and enthusiasm of players in the under 25 group. Additionally, Dave Rosen at Harrow Sports continues to support the Project through the sponsorship of product for the junior doubles tour. The US Squash Doubles Committee, headed by Morris Clothier and comprised of squash doubles enthusiasts across the country, worked closely with US Squash’s Kevin Klipstein and Conor O’Malley to help make the event a reality. The efforts of all of these individuals combined with the success of the tournament signifies the level of enthusiasm and growth of squash doubles and speaks to its future success.
