St. Valentine's Day Massacre

WEEKEND		TOURNAMENT		ADDRESS			Contact
February 9-11, 2001		St. Valentines Day Massacre		Athletic Club at Bloomingdale Bloomingdale			Dave Negrete (630) 893-9577

We always start these things working on what happened on the Men's side of the draw. However, in honor of Valentine's Day weekend and to continue a tradition begun last year, we will again cover the Women side first. While the women don't come out in force for this tournament, we got two good sized divisions in Women's A (11 in the draw) and Women's B (8 in the draw). With two time Valentine's Day winner Julie Vincent taking the weekend off, Kathy Dunham and Martha Huske worked their way through the draw in Women's A to face each other in the finals. This was a serious match with nice long rallies (for the spectators to watch at least), excellent drive serves and smart shot selection. Kathy Dunham was just a bit too much for Martha to handle this time around, so she took home the crown.

Now the Women's B match was quite a different story. With frequent competitors, Gail Parzygnat and Janet Eminger on the court, good natured trash talking was the rule--and not just between rallies. These women were talking trash even as shots were being hit. (The rule against talking while a rally is in process must have been held in temporary suspension.) Yes, it is the finals, but this is only a game after all. Next time we need to put microphones on these women.

The Mixed Open Doubles saw a nice upset, with Scott Reiser and partner, Kathy Welker facing perennial favorites, Dennis Negrete and Janet Christie, in a round robin match to decide the eventual winner of that division. In a surprising upset, Scott and Kathy took down the top seeds in fine style, knocking Christie/Negrete all the way down to third. Should be some rematch in an upcoming tournament.

On the Men's side, for the second year in a row, Eugene Coyle had to face Tim Sweeney in a Valentine's tourney finals. This time it was in Men's Open, where Tim only gets one photon serve. Last year, it was in Men's 35+ with each player getting two serving opportunities. Having to face a Sweeney drive with a second chance if it is short is too much to bear. Still the result was pretty much the same, with Tim beating Eugene, 4 and 10. Tim also won the Men's Open Doubles with partner, Dennis Negrete over Eugene and Dave Negrete. (How do the Negrete brothers' decide which one gets Tim and which gets Eugene? Do they draw straws, lag serve or what?) Other men's winners filled a who's-who of Illinois racquetball royalty. With Doug Halverson in AA, Jim Hillman in A, John Mason in Men's B, Brad Stanfield in C and Dan Opferman in D you have a great line-up of winners. Everyone seemed to have a great time, as usual for a Bloomingdale tournament. Thanks to all the club and tournament staff for all of their hard work. Take a look at the rest of the Valentine's Day results below: