Boasters League
Quarter Finals~~
Funny how the finals come around and suddenly Wednesday
night squash turns into a priority. Of the 34 scheduled matches, 31 of them
were decided before Thursday morning. Of course I couldn’t be happier (unless all 34 were played!) but I can’t help
but wonder what the season would look like if this level of enthusiasm was
portrayed every single week. It’s kind of like play-off hockey. Go through the
motions during the home and away, then turn into ‘beast-mode’ once the finals
start! Each team required one sub, so no-harm-no-foul on that level, but did
bonus points make a difference..?
Vivio’s v Nicker
Ballers
As mentioned last week in the report, Vivio’s beat the Nicker
Ballers during the season. Save for a couple of results, the score lines
came back identical as what they did in round 4. The stand-outs were Peter Huthwaite (Nicker Ballers) avenging his 3-0 loss to Fred Minturn (Vivio’s)
with a complete reversal for a 3-0 win this time around, Peter Fromm (Nicker Ballers)
salvaging 1 game instead of none against Gina
Greer (Vivio’s), and Jeff Frost
(Nicker Ballers) taking all 3 games against
Mike Rock (Vivio’s) going one better than the 2-1 win weeks ago.
The difference overall favored the Nicker Ballers, and at the end of the evening, they held what
appeared to be an unassailable lead, even though 2 matches were yet to be
played – one of which was not going to get done anyway. Most people left the
building with the knowledge that Vivio’s
season was at an end and the Nicker
Ballers were set to live another day. But Vivio’s captain Rich Stimson
is as stubborn as his red hair suggests he is, and in a show of what can happen
if you are dedicated enough, Rich pulled out his cell phone in a desperate and
defiant act of ignoring all club house rules, and threatened life and limb to
the players in his team that still needed to come to the DAC to pick up their
bonus points. And, whether it was the fear of having to live looking constantly
over one’s shoulder for a ginger-haired attacker, or whether it was promises of
free drinks and cigars (no doubt the former), it worked! And what seemed a dead
and buried result, by Thursday morning, they were, remarkably, within reach.
Unintended consequence was that all the pressure was now
mounted on the final match. Gus Ploss
(Vivio’s) was left with the task of
completing this highly improbable comeback with having to beat Drew Van Tongeren (Nicker Ballers) 3-0. And, it was definitely within the realm of
possibility considering he had done exactly that in round 4. But pressure can
be a double edged sword. Some people step up to the plate and exceed
expectations, some collapse on the weight of their own doubts and end up a
blubbery, dribbling wet sponge. There was nothing oozing from Gus’ pores on
this occasion except the pheromones of a well-earned 3-0 victory. And that, as
the saying goes, “was all she wrote”.
Vivio’s come back from the precipice
of death to win… 37-37 was the overall point score, but the tie-break bonus
points get them through.
Next week they have to handle the Butter Nutz. Their round 5 encounter had Vivio’s winning 34-32. So no prediction here… exciting stuff!
Winky-Dinks v Foss
Nation
I would have expected this result to be a little narrower,
and for most of the evening, it was. It was only when the last couple of
results rolled in that one team forged ahead. 16 of the 17 matches were
completed here, and the Winky-Dinks
also picked up 2 more bonus points that Foss
Nation.
The biggest reversal result (from when these teams played in
round 5) was captain Dane Fossee (Foss Nation) leading by example, taking
care of business against Jordan Ellis
(Winky-Dinks) with a 3-0 victory,
making up for the earlier 3-0 loss. I was watching a little of the third game
in this match, and while Dane did look in control for the most part, I was
rather impressed at Jordan’s foot speed and his ability to cover the front
corners so quickly.
John Perkins (Winky-Dinks) also got payback on his round
5 loss to Marc Topacio (Foss Nation) with a 2-1 win, which was
then almost immediately nullified by James
Stuntz (Foss Nation) who did the
same turnaround trick to Justin Winkelman (Winky-Dinks).
A number of these match-ups were a lot more completive than
what they were those few ago – what were 3-0’s back then morphed into 2-1
results this time, but no team was taking any real advantage or step forward,
both content to hold hands and dance across the finish line – it appeared – in
a synchronized deadlocked entanglement. Then the last three results came back
and the Winky-Dinks had decided to
drop the charade and pull up the big-boy pants. Julie Vande Vusse wasted little time yanking up her drawers
taking all 3 games as did Tad Lippincott
and then finishing the job, stretching those pants to the breaking point, Dave DeCew was merciless taking his 3
games.
Winky-Dinks finished
strong and Captain Winkelman can once again drill his team for another week,
thankful for this 41-33 win, but pumping up his minions to take on the number 1
seeded Mongoose. A team that Winky-Dinks will need to do better against than what they did round
7 where they were ceremoniously stuffed 39-27.
