Results - 2005 YMCA National One-wall Championships, December 10-11th, 2005 - McBurney YMCA, 125 West 14th St (between 6th & 7th Aves.), Manhattan, NY

Information & Photos by Albert Apuzzi

JR 16 & UNDER DOUBLES

Kevin Ward Jr. and Emma Pierce captured the title by defeating John Roca and Richard Troise.

SEMIFINALS: Emma Pierce/Kevin Ward Jr. bye, John Roca/Richard Troise d. Dan Kelly/William Seifield 15
FINAL: Pierce/Ward d. Roca/Troise 14

JR 17 & UNDER SINGLES

Stan Zavoyskiy showed he is the man to beat by leaving John Mantilla on just 10 points.

QUARTERFINALS: Stan Zavoyskiy d. John Roca 18, Michael Wu d. Pablo Roman 13, John Mantilla d. Kevin Ward Jr. 19, Tyree Bastidas d. Chris Miranda 17
SEMIFINALS: Zavoyskiy d. Wu 10, Mantilla d. Bastidas 13
FINAL: Zavoyskiy d. Mantilla 10

MENS SINGLES

Early round victories that deserve mention are 15 year old Tyree Bastidas victory over Angel Vega and Victor LoPierre’s defeat of Willie Polanco. In addition, up and coming John Roca feel 4 points short of defeating PeeWee Castro.

Wright had to fight his way through a tough lower bracket. In the quarters LoPierre scored 22 and Castro made 21 in the semis. Sostre failed to give Satish much opposition in the semis scoring a mere 4 points. The best Rookie could do was to earn 14 in the final. Since his comeback, Jagnandan has established himself as the top one-wall singles player.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: Kevin Ward Jr. d. Michael Wu 20, Tyree Bastidas d. Angel Vega 13, Allan Sanchez d. Dan Kelly 9, Abe Mantell d. Juned Khan 17
ROUND OF 16: Satish Jagnandan d. Ward 0, Alvaro Rebaza d. Cristobal Ramos 10, Stan Zavoyskiy d. Tyree Bastidas 16, Robert Sostre d. Jesus Ayala 19, PeeWee Castro d. John Roca 21, Milton Jones d. Allan Sanchez 14, Victor LoPierre d. Willie Polanco 8, Rookie Wright d. Abe Mantell 9
QUARTERFINALS: Jagnandan d. Rebaza 12, Sostre d. Zavoyskiy 10, Castro d. Jones 16, Wright d. LoPierre 22
SEMIFINALS: Jagnandan d. Sostre 4, Wright d. Castro 21
FINAL: Jagnandan d. Wright 14
Champion $400, runner-up $200 and semifinalists $100

WOMENS SINGLES:

The women's singles could be summed up with just a single word “drama”. In the quarters Theresa McCourt defeated Dori Ten 25-20 in a battle which resulted in Theresa receiving a technical warning and a technical while Bernice Torres came within 2 points of defeating reigning national champion Tracy Davis.

If Tracy thought the worst was over she was wrong. In the final Davis and Pares exchanged the lead several times before the score was tied at 24 all. Brenda missed a fly kill, off Tracy’s service return. Davis returned the favor by serving off the court and didn’t see the short line again as Pares won the title by a mere point.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: Quaisha Watson d. Mariann Alcocera 10, Bernice Torres d. Sophie Murphy 5
QUARTERFINALS: Brenda Pares d. Q. Watson 8, Theresa McCourt d. Dori Ten 20, Veronica Watson d. Lori Acevedo 13, Tracy Davis d. Torres 23
SEMIFINALS: Pares d. McCourt 14, Davis d. Watson 16
FINAL: Pares d. Davis 24
Champion received $100, runner-up $50 and semifinalists $25

WOMENS DOUBLES:

The mother and daughter team, of Veronica and Quaisha Watson, stunned the women's doubles field by defeating Acevedo and Davis in the semis and McCourt and Ten in the final.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: Quaisha Watson/Veronica Watson d. Mariann Alcocera/Sophie Murphy
SEMIFINALS: Watson/Watson d. Lori Acevedo/Tracy Davis 23, Theresa McCourt/Dori Ten d. Brenda Pares/Bernice Torres 14
FINAL: Watson/Watson d. McCourt/Ten 20
Champions split $150 and runners-up split $50

MENS DOUBLES:

The men's doubles was a very competitive event. In the quarters Joe Malkis and Pete Pelligrini left Cesar Sala and Rookie Wright on just 14 points. Victor LoPierre and Mike Schneider overcame an 11-3 deficit to defeat Albert Apuzzi and Joe Kaplan 25-18. George Figueroa and Milton Jones scored 16 points off of Peewee Castro and Willie Polanco. Alvaro Rebaza and Kareem Wilkerson fell 5 points short of victory against Tony Roberts and Robert Sostre.

In the semis, Malkis and Pelligrini earned a very respectful 18 against LoPierre and Schneider while Roberts and Sostre made 20 against Castro and Polanco.

The final was worth staying for. The action was fast and furious. With neither team holding more than a few point lead. Castro and Polanco managed to regain the serve at 20-24 and when the smoke cleared had escaped from defeat with a 25-24 victory. For those of you who haven’t noticed, Mike and Victor have served notice to the open field. They certainly showed up with their “A” game.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: Joe Malkis/Pete Pelligrini d. Allan Sanchez/Stan Zavoyskiy 17, George Figueroa/Milton Jones d. Dan Kelly/Kevin Ward Sr. 6, Alvaro Rebaza/Kareem Wilkerson d. John Roca/Kevin Ward Jr. 4
QUARTERFINALS: Malkis/Pelligrini d. Cesar Sala/Rookie Wright 14, Victor LoPierre/Mike Schneider d. Albert Apuzzi/Joe Kaplan 18, PeeWee Castro/Willie Polanco d. Figueroa/Jones 16, Tony Roberts/Robert Sostre d. Rebaza/Wilkerson 20
SEMIFINALS: LoPierre/Schneider d. Malkis/Pelligrini 18, Castro/Polanco d. Roberts/Sostre 20
FINAL: Castro/Polanco d. LoPierre/Schneider 24
Champions split $470, runners-up split $220 and the semifinalists split $100.

Thanks to Activities Director Adam Gruberger and Karl Muchow (ICHA Board Member) who have been instrumental in obtaining the use of the facility for 3 years in a row and to the ICHA for providing a weekend of hospitality.

Gary Cruz was on site and got to speak to Adam Gruberger and the mysterious Juan-Carlos Guerra. Juan has big plans for promoting different types of handball. During 2007 he plans to employ the top 15 players so that they can concentrate full time on handball. Juan was there to scout out the McBurney Y as a potential site for a big blue mixed doubles on Feb. 5th. The champions will split $10,000!!!

Brenda repeated as the women's singles champion, Satish as the men's singles champion and PeeWee as the men's doubles champion. To visit the updated YMCA records visit here.

Initial ESTIMATE shows that the tournament operated at a loss of approximately $400.