Photos - 2006 National Doubles Quarters
October 16th, 2006 by Geoff Thomsen
As soon as stepping off the plane in Tempe, and then into the club at the ASU Recreation Center, I was off and shooting for the 2006 USA Racquetball Nationals Doubles Championships. Things started off with a bang, as several huge upsets rocked the draws. After first beating the number three seeds Solis / Dunn, Dan Darling and Jason Samora proceeded to take out Ben Croft and Woody Clouse in a big 11-10 tie breaker. Each team served NUMEROUS times at 10-10, and finally Darling / Samora were able to put together the game-ending rally.
Out of nowhere, Jeff Stark and Andy Hawthorne moved through the draw, meeting long time men’s finalists Jason Thoerner and Mitch Williams in the quarters. Andy and Jeff couldn’t miss a shot, and kept Thoerner and Williams off-balance and out of position throughout the match. Mitch and Jason just seemed to be missing everything, and my usual 10 shots of Mitch diving through the air came in at only one or two for this match. Andy and Jeff closed out the match in two straight games.
John Ellis made a splash this year at National Doubles, playing well and showing some of the event veterans some new tricks. In Ellis and Royster’s match against the number one seeds, they made some event “talk” by appealing the racquet lengths of their opponents Carson and Huczek in the first game. As their rubber grips extended 1/2″ beyond the end of the racquet (making the total length 22.5″), the number one seeds were disqualified from the first game. After a quick trip to the event stringer for a grip trim, Rocky and Jack fought back to take the next two games, and the match.
Match Galleries:
- MQ1 - Huczek Carson def. Royster Ellis ((14), 9, 2)
- MQ2 - Ganim Bell def. Vanderson Tucker (12, 13)
- MQ3 - Darling Samora def. Croft Clouse ((8), 13, 10)
- MQ4 - Hawthorne Stark def. Thoerner Williams (9,4)
- WQ1 - Fenton Ruiz def. Shattuck gellman (11, 8 )
- WQ2 - Gudinas Inglesby def. Foster Albrecht (13, 9)
- WQ3 - Rajsich Tisinger def. Kyzer Moore
- WQ4 - Rice Russell def. Lyons Phaler (12, 6)
- XQ4 - Royster Rajsich def. Dunn Tisinger (14, 6)
- M24 - Rogers Rich def. Croft Pratt (4, 13)
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Entry Filed under: Racquetball News, Racquetball Photos, USA Racquetball
Tags: 2006 National Doubles, National Doubles
