Open 3.5:  Cambridge @ Boston Racquet Club -- Season Finale
2014-03-12

by Harold & Naji

The 2014 3.5 League Championship finals was held on March 12th at the Boston Racquet Club.  Michael Belliveau, the BRC captain and coincidentally Leagues Coordinator for Mass Squash, arranged catering (compliments of Mass Squash).

By the way, it might look from the ratings that BRC played their squad properly, in order of strength, whereas we manipulated our order.  This is not the case: we played according to our current challenge ladder order, which was fairly established, including quite a bit of challenging a week ago.

The pros from both clubs, Naji Khan and Michael Downey, were present to coach their players.  I can't speak for Mike, but Naji gave excellent advice -- simple and effective.  Some of it consisted of prolonging the points in the #3 and #4, and reminding #1 and #2 to push their opponents deep into the back corners of the court to get control of the “T” and dictate the rallies.  

Iain and KJ went on first.  Iain was always supreme.  He kept his opponent off-balance and struggling to keep pace through the 3-game match.  With the addition of his newly developed short game he kept his opponent moving.  KJ was running everything down but that was taking its toll:  he seemed exhausted halfway through the match.  Unfortunately his boasts and drop shots were not staying down because the courts were especially warm. At one point four of us, like a security detail, accompanied KJ to the furthest drinking fountain in the building, all eager to give advice.  Mainly he wanted rest and water!  KJ adapted his game and found the energy to push the match to 5.  He had a clear opportunity to win the match, but fell short in the final moments losing 15-12.

Divu and Charles had the second series of matches.  Divu was challenged by Brian's excellent shot selection, but Divu was retrieving most of it, and his elegant drop shot was on display.  The warm courts suited his game well.  As always, he mixed his rocket-fast pace with delicate drop shots.  Divu's 3-1 victory decided the contest before Charles & Andrew's match had completed, but out of respect for the integrity of that battle, no one told them until they were done.

Charles' only defeat this season was against his current opponent, Andrew, so it was going to be an interesting match.  That defeat was actually due to Charles' having to leave before the fifth.  Andrew had a record of 11:2 (wins:losses) (losing only to Peter Hodges of BSC/W, and Valerie Koo of T&R).  The audience was not disappointed!  With the exception of a quick first game, which went to BRC, the rest of the match was extremely tight and strategic.  It was great squash and it was clear that the players were well matched.  In the final game of the marathon match Charles and Andrew were trading points back and forth.  In the end, Charles let two match-points get away from him only to have it all end on a stroke...giving BRC the match.   Check out the videos for the athleticism, and accuracy:  their cross courts are deep and their drop shots are falling close to the tin.

Several factors contributed to Cambridge's victory.  The contest might have gone the other way if their #2, Matt Turnell (8:2) had not been recently injured.  Also indispensable to the outcome was a lot of good coaching.  Thanks to all the players, Charles especially, and our pro Naji.  Finally, I think our being the visitor in this contest helped, because it allowed us to choose the scoring system.  Most league players are accustomed to PAR-11, but we were used to PAR-15.  It was like having home court advantage.  Even so, every match was a hard fought battle, as we were forced to adjust to the warmer and faster courts at the BRC. 

Iain produced a bottle of bubbly, which was shared with all players after the contest.  Iain, come back anytime!  Actually, Charles and Iain may be kicked up to the 4.0.  We shall see.

Thanks to Tom Durkin for holding the 3.5 league together this season.  He deserved some of the bubbly too.  Ditto to the Cambridge supporters (Lynn, Amy, Jazz, Jenny and teammates Ryan & Glenn).

Stills (click for full resolution).  (Most of these are from Michael Belliveau.)

BRC Squad: Tim, Andrew, Daniel, Brian	CAC Squad: KJ, Iain, Divu, Charles	CAC Squad + Captain
The BRC team	Kwonjune Seung	Iain Prendergast & Timothy Galligan
Crowd watches the #1s play	Harold Takes a Movie	Food Spread
Trophy (received at annual MASQ meeting)

Movies.  It works best to save the movie (on Windows, right click + Save Target As), then play it.

The photographer appears to have a foot fetish, or is possibly advertising for Nike and Adidas, because the camera is sometimes too low .  Sorry about that.  Be patient though.

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