Minnesota State Handball Association

The2016 Maverick Open hosted 93 players on Halloween weekend. For the first time ever,the tournament was held on the Minnesota State Mankato campus. With 130 matches on Friday and Saturday, and only four courts, the Maverick handball complex was very busy. With Lake Forest College sending some of their team for the tournament, this promised to be a precursor of the battle at this year’s USHA National Collegiate tournament. LFC won its astounding FIFTIETH national title and MNSU finished runner up to them. The Mavericks hope to break through and win their first title this year, but LFC will be determined to defend their title.

The Open Division final pitted Minnesota State’s Tyler Stoffel against Lake Forest College’s Anthony Collado. Inthesemifinals, MNSU junior Stoffel defeated teammate Matt Job, who has returned for a graduate degree and rejoined the Mavericks in his final year of eligibility. In the other semi-final, LFC senior Collado defeated Maverick newcomer, freshman Luis Bustos. Luis joins the Mavericks from Modesto, CA. Both of the finalists, Stoffel and Collado, finished in the Top 8 at the 2016 USHA National Collegiate tournament with Stoffel finishing runner-up and Collado tying for 5th. The final match did not disappoint. The athletic skill and handball IQ of these two competitors is very high. Stoffel controlled the first game with precision ceiling shots to the left and wrap arounds to the back of the court. Anytime that Collado made an error, Stoffel capitalized and was victorious 21-5. The second gamewas close early, but Stoffel wore down Collado and was able to pull away for a 21-12 victory. The match was much closer than the final score indicated and this was the third match of the day for these two players. Fun to watch! David Miller beat Minnesota State alumnus Jerad Michels 21-15, 21-16 to capture the consolation title.

The Women’s Open was dominated by LFC’s Kyra Vidas. The seeds held true on her side of the draw as she defeated MNSU’s Nikki Theobald in the semi-finals 21-16, 21-12. On the other side, MNSU freshman, Kendra Kaupa cruised to the semis only to be defeated by junior teammate, Nora Kronlokken. This was Nora’s first tournament since recovering from foot surgery last year. Kronlokken played valiantly in the final against Vidas before falling  21-17, 21-3. Vidas has a powerful right hand and will be a force to be reckoned with at the collegiates in February on the Arizona State campus. MNSU’s junior Stasha Zetah defeated senior teammate Laurie Hiebert 21-7, 14-21, 11-6 to take consolation honors.

The A singles consisted of a solid group of current collegiate players, collegiate alumni, and two up-and-coming junior players. The results showed that just because you are older, doesn’t mean you are better. After finishing runner-up last year in the A division, Maverick recruit Devin Peters took a campus visit on Friday and then was victorious on Saturday over an excellent collegiate player, LFC’s Max Roberts. Roberts is a member of the first family of handball and has been playing throughout the junior national competitions. It took a tie breaker for Peters to take down Roberts 21-5, 10-21, 11-7. Both of these players showed they are ready for open competition next year. LFC teammates battled for the consolation crown with Carter Kounovsky defeating Jonathan Vargas 21-5, 14,21, 11-8.

The B singles pitted veteran Mike Leiter against converted racquetballer, Bud Hornaday. With both players playing singles and doubles, it is no small accomplishment to get to a division final. Leiter was victorious 21-6, 21-13. Maverick recruit Sam Ure of Chicago sat in on a freshman engineering class on Friday morning and was able to defeat Antony Riggles 21-6, 21-12 for the consolation title.

The women’s B bracket featured ten women that have been playing only since the beginning of fall semester. In the final, Maverick freshman Crystal Theobald took on MNSU’s reigning homecoming queen, CourtneySill. Sill proved she has a lot of handball talent too defeating Theobald 17-21, 21-13, 11-0. 

Krista Kniefel defeated Emma Kronlokken 21-14, 21-5 for consolation honors. The future of Lady Maverick handball is in this division. There was a lot of buzz about how well these women played for only being introduced to the game a short time ago. Credit goes to their teammates and Maverick coach Josh Hoflock for working with these women on their handball game!

The C singles was dominated by Collin Peters, the younger brother of A champ Devin. Collin is very skilled for such a young player and is a product of Don Quinlan’s Lattoff YMCA program in Chicago that has produced many collegiate and national champions. Collin defeated MNSU junior Dalton Cothron 21- 10, 21-1. Future Maverick recruit Zack Wells won the consolation title with a 21-2, 21-11 victory over MNSU’s junior Logan Harvey. The title was great, but the Mavericks were even happier with the verbal commitment from 12 year old Zack to join the Mavericks in fall of 2023.

The Novice singles consisted of fifteen players who are currently enrolled in Introduction to Handball courses at MNSU. There are two sections, the daytime section taught by Coach Wells and the evening section taught by Coach Stoffel and Coach Hoflock. It was fitting that the final match came down to a player from each section. D’Ante Ross from the evening section and Zach Heyne from the morning. These two players are extremely athletic, but still very raw in terms of handball. Ross was able to defeat Heyne 21-20, 15-21, 11-1. Both players learned that handball tournaments are a great workout and typically run behind schedule. Coach Wells knows he will have to step up to next year if he is to get someone from his section to get this title back! Clayton Edwards (evening section) defeated Josh Boraas (morning section) 21-8, 21-11 for consolation honors.

Golden Masters singles was dominated by Fargo’s Jay Spooner. Jay was able to defeat Maverick Open regular John Nakasone 21-10, 21-7. No garbage cans were damaged during this match. Russ Forbess defeated travel partner Ron Allen to have bragging rights on the drive back to Wisconsin.

The 90+ doubles round robin was won by North Dakota’s Jay Spooner and Bud Hornaday as they went undefeated through the field. Dean Held and Antony Riggles were runner-up.

The 100+ doubles was won by Mankatoans Silas Danielson and Tim Pulis to keep the title in town. They defeated Don Reiter and Ed Simonet 21-10, 21-12. Dean Held and Mike Leiter defeated Brent Friedrichs and Harry Musser 21-19, 21-13 for the consolation title.

The tournament committee would like to thank all of the players that sponsored collegiate players into the tournament and/ or made donations to the Maverick handball program. Without your generosity, it would be very difficult to run our program and travel to tournaments. We would also like to acknowledge the corporate tournament sponsors: Alerus Financial, Kato Moving & Storage; Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic; Plato’s Closet; Downs Food Group; Politos Pizza; Blethen, Gage & Kruse; Music Mart; and Play It Again Sports.

Also a special thanks to the Maverick Court Sponsors: Maverick Software Consulting and New Bohemia!

Great tournament, see you next year!!