What an exciting weekend of Pickleball! Last weekend we had our Club Championships, which were so well attended we’ll probably have to expand them next year. Kudos to all the new participants, while there was competition on the courts, there was a lot more laughter and trash talking – at least one finals match had the spectators caught between laughing and cheering. It was pickleball at its best. Special thanks to Sherry Benz and Michelle McQuay – tournament/social directors extraordinaire 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 Evert, Cheryl Heusser, Sheryl Ruth, Regina Franssen, Dari Tarabini, Valerie Simler, Cindy and Arthur Yu, Joanne Robinson, Kathy & Brian Dombrowski, Joyce Kludt, Laura Swenson, Julie Henig, MJ O’Neill, Srini Srinivasan, Mark Gregg, and Lesley Robinson! 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 week! You can see the full tournament brackets by clicking on the division title below:
- Women’s Advanced Doubles was an upset win by Ling Yamaki and Cindy Yu in what was set up as a rematch after a well-fought round two match-up, defeating the reigning champions, Sherry Benz and Peggy Seidel.
- Women’s Advanced intermediate Doubles was won by Valerie Simler and Julie Henig. They took on Tina Parsley and Michelle McQuay in a tough match, that kept our spectators enthralled as the last match of the day.
- Women’s Intermediate Doubles was won by Claire Hintergardt and Cindy Fuller, they took on Lindsay Cairns and Karen Rooney. They did very well, especially with this being Karen’s first tournament!
- Men’s Advanced Doubles was won by Tim McQuay and Steve Holland, competing against Mark Gregg and Jeff Porges. Tim and Steve played brilliantly throughout the day, remaining undefeated!
- Men’s Advanced Intermediate Doubles was another upset, won by Bert Tang and Roger King over Dari Tarabini and Marty Funcell. Bert only started playing pickleball in June, let this be incentive to other new players!
- Mixed Intermediate Doubles was won by first-timers SusieQ Conkin and George Cagley, over Tony Orlando and Lorraine Silva. Both Susie and George started playing Pickleball here this Spring, we love seeing new people enjoying tournaments and doing so well!
- Mixed Advanced Intermediate Doubles was filled with hard-fought battle throughout the day. Ling Yamaki and Bert Tang became the only two-time champions, defeating Steve Yang and Joy Chen in the finals. Ling also won Women’s Advanced doubles, Bert also won the men’s Advanced Intermediate doubles.
- Mixed Advanced Doubles was won by Helen Varenkamp and Mark Gregg, against Michelle and Tim McQuay. The battle was hard fought, but also great fun to watch, as if often the case when friends play. Does anyone not know the middle names of Michelle & Mark? We heard “Oh no, Michelle Ann” and “Arg, Mark Robert” on the rare occasions they missed a shot.
What an amazing club and group of people! Photos of Finalists below:
