What an exciting weekend of Pickleball! Last weekend we had our Club Championships, which were so well attended we’ll probably have to build new courts next year. Kudos to all the new participants, while there was competition on the courts, there was a lot more laughter and trash talking. It was pickleball at its best. Special thanks to Sherry Benz Tournament Director and Michelle McQuay Social Director, who did their usual exemplary job, and Anahid Gregg the tournament scorer. It never would have succeeded without the support team who setup, tore down and manned the food table: Stan, Diane, Kyle, Harry, Bert, Sonia, Kathy, Brian, Julie, Larry, Valerie, Bruce, Cindy, Arthur, Joyce, Steve H, Sherry, Steve Y, Marty, Randy, Anatoly, Inessa! We can’t wait for next year!
Saturday saw the women’s and men’s doubles competition, with five divisions. Sunday featured three divisions of mixed doubles. It was another great event, we can’t wait to see what’s planned for next year! You can see the full tournament brackets by clicking on the division title below:
- Women’s Advanced Doubles was an exciting performance by Sherry Benz & Sheryl Ruth. They went down the first game in each set – then came back to a decisive win the second game, and won each tie breaker 7-1! Way to dominate, ladies!
- Women’s Advanced intermediate Doubles was won by Joyce Kludt & Valerie Simler. They took on Tina Parsley and Julie Henig in a tough match. Valerie was a last minute sub for Donna Quartaro, who injured her back. We hope you are back on the court soon, Donna!
- Women’s Intermediate Doubles was won by Betty Olsen & Claire Hintergardt in a round robin format. Way to go, Claire, who was a repeat winner from 2o23!
- Men’s Advanced Doubles was won by Gil Cepeda & Steve Simler, who beat an undefeated Steve Holland & Tim McQuay. This was a closely contested battle, requiring a playoff and providing a lot of excitement!
- Men’s Advanced Intermediate Doubles was a closely contested round robin, with the final games determining the winners – Brian Dombrowski & Bob Barentsen.
- Mixed Intermediate Doubles was won by new partners Jan Ehrhardt (our “Queen winner earlier this year!) & Fred Goff, over Nancy Cassidy & Roger Dahlberg. This was another exciting division decided by the last round of play!
- Mixed Advanced Intermediate Doubles was filled with hard-fought battles throughout the day. Julie & Larry Henig defeated Phyllis Seeger & Bob Barentsen, but the play of the day was Bob going down not once, but twice, getting up both times and returning the ball – scoring the winning shot the second time! A true YouTube moment!
- Mixed Advanced Doubles was won by Colleen & Gil Cepeda against Helen Varenkamp and Mark Gregg. This made Gil the only double winner of the tournament (he also won the Men’s Advanced division) – congrats, Gil! The final game was a forfeit after an injury forced Mark and Helen to resign, but the play up until then was non-stop excitement! Luckily, Mark was okay after a week of rest.
