2004 Men’s and Women’s YMCA National One-Wall Handball singles Championships - Saturday December 11th, 2004 - at the McBurney YMCA, Manhattan, NY

articles/photos by Jimmy Russo – HandballCity.com

Former national champion Ken Davidoff was on hand to present the USHA's 2004 player of the year awards to Brenda Pares and Satish Jagnandan.

 This was the year of dominance in one-wall Handball as Brenda Pares continued her winning streak as she defeated Tracy Davis in the Finals 25-12. Brenda on her road to victory defeated Barbara Jackson 25-8 and Dori Ten 25-13 to get to the finals.

 In the Men's Open singles Satish Jagnandan aced his way to another victory as he defeated John "Rookie" Wright in the finals 25-14. This was the 3rd time this year they met in the finals...and Satish has won all 3 of the matches. Satish's road to the finals included wins over Stan Zavoyskiy 25-5, Albert Apuzzi 25-3, and PeeWee Castro 25-11.

 In the new "A" division singles, Carlos Lopez came from behind to defeat rising star Stan Zavoyskiy 25-21. Carlos Lopez said before the match he did not play in 4 months, but felt he would use his experience against the young talented player. To get to the Finals Lopez defeated Juned Khan 25-14 and Alan Sanchez 25-22. Players seemed very happy with the new "A" division event and some even participated in the opens too.     (photo of Jagnandan, Davidoff, Pares by Albert Apuzzi)

2004 McBurney YMCA Women's Open Doubles Championships - Sunday December 12th, 2004

By Jimmy Russo – HandballCity.com

In the Women's Open Doubles "Round Robin" 4 teams competed. In the first match up it was the 2004 Three-Wall National Champions Tracy Davis and Sydell Smith defeating the energetic team of the future Alethia Mendez and Lian Chin 25-14. Then it was the 2004 National one-wall singles Champion Brenda Pares and most improved player Bernice Torres defeating the experienced team of Barbara Jackson and Dori Ten 25-20. After the match Bernice Torres was interviewed by HandballCity.com on how she had improved so much. She simply replied I have a great teacher/partner, referencing Brenda Pares. They have been seen frequently defeating men’s teams at the Zerega indoor courts in the Bronx. Then Davis/Smith defeated Jackson/Ten 25-11, Pares/Torres defeated Chin/Mendez 25-11, Pares/Torres defeated Davis/Smith 25-8, and Jackson/Ten defeated Chin/Mendez 25-20. The women's division is no longer in the shadow of the men’s, with such plays as Lian Chin diving and hitting a roll shot and Brenda Pares placing the ball anywhere she wants on the court.

The winners were Brenda Pares and Bernice Torres, and coming in second place were Tracy Davis and Sydell Smith. This was Brenda's 1st doubles championship and her 1st Slam.

Results - 2004 McBurney YMCA Men's Open Doubles Championships - Sunday December 12th, 2004

By Jimmy Russo – HandballCity.com

In the Men's Pro-Doubles it was a hard fought preliminary match to start the day off as Milton Jones and Pete Pelligrini defeated Jonathan Lee and Alvaro Rebaza 25-16. In the quarterfinals it was Cesar Sala and John "Rookie" Wright defeating William O'Donnell and Alan Sanchez 25-16. Rookie was telling his partner out loud we are going to win this today....sending the other teams a message. Milton Jones/Pete Pelligrini defeated the Open Singles Champion Satish Jagnandan and the new "A" division singles Champion Carlos Lopez 25-21. Kendell Lewis and Victor LoPierre defeated Dave Rojas and Kareem "the dream" Wilkerson 25-22. This match went back and forth, and it was the 1st time Rojas/Wilkerson had teamed up together. Albert Apuzzi and PeeWee Castro defeated Jonathan Iglesias and Stan Zavoyskiy 25-18. This match up was interesting since both Apuzzi and Castro are accomplished National Champions, and Iglesias/Zavoyskiy are rising teen stars in the open rankings. As the semi-finals was starting most of the fans were betting on Sala and Rookie to win today. Sala/Wright now had to face today’s toughest team of Jones/Pelligrini. This match could have made the highlight reel on ESPN. Shot after shot the teams went back and forth. Rookie/Sala were getting their left corner killed by the lefty Pelligrini. Also Jones pitched in with several right hand spikes to the left corner. They seemed to have today’s favorite team off balance. But Sala/Wright had made a miraculous comeback, in which Rookie took control of the middle of the court with his opposite hand and ended some key volleys. The match was tied at 24-24, but Sala/Wright had edged out the win 25-24. In the other semi-final match Apuzzi/Castro defeated Lewis/LoPierre 25-12.

The crowd at the YMCA started to gather for the Finals...the fans still picking the team of Sala/Wright to win it all. Apuzzi/Castro would not have any of this, especially if they knew about the history of the YMCA Handball Championships. Albert Apuzzi had won 6 out of the last 8 Doubles Championships with various partners. Also today Apuzzi was playing with this year’s hottest Doubles player PeeWee Castro. PeeWee with partner Willie Polanco (who could not make todays event) had clobbered the competition loosing only once all year. The match began with Apuzzi/Castro starting off strong with a 3 point lead and never looked back. Cesar Sala did make his patent superstar left hand gets and put backs, and John "Rookie" Wright was trying to power the ball through the wooden courts. But it was all about the chemistry, Apuzzi with his crushing kills and PeeWee with his flying dives were destined to be today’s winners. The finals score was 25-14. They steamrolled through the competition and were crowed the 2004 McBurney YMCA doubles Champions.

 

MENS PRO-DOUBLES

The updated YMCA records can be found by visiting http://ushandball.org/onewall/ymcaall.html

 

A special thanks to Adam Gruberger of the McBurney YMCA for making the facility available, Stan Zavoyskiy and Victor LoPierre who acted as site directors, Karl Muchow the YMCA liason, and to the ICHA for donating the hospitality.