Minnesota State Handball Association

The Mankato Handball Experience
October 29-30, 2010
Mankato YMCA, Mankato, MN

 

The Mankato Handball Experience was a great success again this year.  The tournament committee would like to thank all the out of town players for making this event as good as it can be.  Court space was precious, but the tournament was completed by early evening on Saturday.  Even with 56 competitors in five full brackets, it was remarkable that the court times really never got behind.  We came close to a new record at Jake’s Stadium Pizza on Friday night, but fell a couple of pies short.  Next year, might be our year?!  The tournament committee would like to thank all of the corporate sponsors, those who sponsored collegiate players into the tournament, and the Mankato YMCA.  This was our best tournament yet.

Ryan Maloney improved on his consolation championship from last year and out lasted iron man, Mike Gustafson in the open final.  Mike played six matches in 24 hours.  Now that’s A LOT OF HANDBALL!! Others receiving the iron man award for singles and doubles were John Ayers, George Langhorst, and Alva Rankin. 

The 90+ doubles, where the ages of the team members must add to at least 90, came down to an 11-10 tiebreaker for the second straight year.  This year, Mike and Arne Wells came out on the top end after dropping the tiebreaker in 2009.  The semi-finals both went tiebreaker, as there was not much difference between the top four teams.  The separation may have been that John Ayers and Mike Gustafson played both ways.

The A bracket consisted of a mix of up and coming players: some currently in college, some recent alumni, and a couple of youngsters.  The gallery was very impressed with the quickness and power of Iowa State’s, Ryan Pesch.  He was able to outlast high school senior, Mike Miller, in two games.  I know the coaches from Minnesota State and the University of Minnesota are hoping that Mike decides to stay in state and play handball when he goes to college next year.

The Masters division was the lifeblood of this tournament.  Multiple times veteran players were seen encouraging and offering sage advice to the players new to handball.  “Don’t be discouraged” “Work on your off-hand” or an anecdote about one of their own tournament experiences were shared.  We hope next year we have even more veteran players attend.  The new players really enjoyed their help.  Unfatigable John Nakasone took care of Alva Rankin in two games in the final.

The B/C bracket was full of new players from Minnesota State.  After the first round, winners entered the B and losers went to C bracket.  The only player with less than one year of experience to advance to the B bracket was Rodney Piepho.  Teenager, David Miller, impressed the gallery with his left hand shot selection and got 20 off of eventual B champion, John Laliberti.  John indicated he has been logging a lot of court time over the last year and it shows.  He bested MSU alum, Drew Engelmeyer in two very close games in the final.  We look forward to John competing in the Open/A next year.

The C bracket ended up containing all new MSU players, one experienced MSU senior, Aaron Grimmer, and one junior player, Devin Reis.  The new collegiate players should take notice that there is no substitution for court time.  Devin may be younger, but he was definitely more experienced, and it showed.  Devin will be a terrific player when he goes to college in four years!!  In the finals though, Aaron was able to beat Devin by minimizing his hand errors.  There were a lot of comments about how good this division’s players were considering most of them had only a few weeks of handball experience.

 

90+ Doubles

Quarterfinals:

· Mike Wells/Arne Wells d. John Kunesh/Jerry Pietz, 5, 9

· John Ayers/A. Kossack d. Alva Rankin/George Langhorst, 7, 6

· John Stoffel/Rich Ryan d. Ed Miller/Don Reiter, 20, 7

· Mike Gustafson/Curt Schlenner d. Paul Dorland/Doug Dorland, 17, 15

Semifinals:

· Wells/Wells d. Ayers/Kossack, (19), 8, 1

· Stoffel/Ryan d. Gustafson/Schlenner, 17, (20), 8

Finals:

· Wells/Wells d. Stoffel/Ryan, (13), 19, 10

Consolation:

· Miller/Reiter d. Kunesh/Pietz, 4,15.

 

Open Singles

· Mike Gustafson d. Brent Friedrichs, 9, 5

· Brandon Glaze d. Ryan Pesch, 9, (18), 7

· Mat Langhorst d. Tyler Stoffel, (16), 10, 3

· Brian Burke d. Chris Delaney, 1,3

· Ryan Maloney d. Chris Hazelton, 2,11

· Billy Craig d. Jesse Fleck, 12,2

· Mitch Van Eps d. Marc Tobin, 20,11

· John Ayers d. Mike Miller, 4,4

Quarterfinals:

· Gustafson d. Glaze, 5,13

· Burke d. Langhorst, 8,3

· Maloney d. Craig, 6, 4

· Ayers d. Van Eps, 9, 5.

Semifinals:

· Gustafson d. Burke, 12, 19

· Maloney d. Ayers, (5), 20, 2

Finals:

· Maloney d. Gustafson, 10, 20.

 

A Singles (drop down from Open)

Quarterinals:

· Pesch d. Friedrichs, 9, 5

· Stoffel d. Delaney, 5, 11

· Hazelton d. Fleck, 16, 20

· Miller d. Tobin, 3,3.

Semifinals:

· Pesch d. Stoffel, (16), 13, 4

· Miller d. Hazelton, 6, 12.

Finals:

· Pesch d. Miller, 9,18.

 

Masters Singles

Quarterfinals:

· Alva Rankin d. Doug Dorland, 6, 4

·  Mike McQuillan d. George Langhorst, 19, 14

· Mark McQuillan d. Glenn Solin, 18, (20), 3

· John Nakasone d. Richard Hulbert, 4, 3.

Semifinals:

· Rankin d. Mike McQuillan, 11, 9

· Nakasone d. Mark McQuillan, 14, 0.

Finals:

· Nakasone d. Rankin, 14, 4

Consolation:

· Langhort d. Hulbert, 14, inj. forfeit

 

B Singles

Preliminary round:

· Brooke Minnehan d. Ryan Williams, 16, 9

· Bill Lundblad d. Brad Jernberg, 13, (18), 8.

R16:

· Drew Engelmeyer d. Devin Reis, 12, 7

· Glenn Oslin d. Rebecca Cole, 5,5

· Andrew Schneider d. Zach Lincoln, 4,5

· Joe Nordahl d. Matt Larson, 13, 8

· John Laliberti d. Minnehan 1,1

· David Miller d. Aaron Grimmer, 4,5

· Rodney Piepho d. Josh Hoff, 13,15

· Ben Olson d. Lunblad, 1,1.

Quarterfinals:

· Engelmeyer d. Oslin, 9,6

· Schneider d. Nordahl, 18,19

· Laliberti d. Miller, 20, 6

· Olson d. Piepho, 6,3.

Semifinals:

· Engelmeyer d. Schneider, 5, 9

· Laliberti d. Olson, 16, 8.

Finals:

· Laliberti d. Engelmeyer, 19, 20.

 

C Singles (drop down from B)

Preliminary round:

Larson d. Lincoln, forfeit

Hoff d. Cole, 7, (20), 10.

Quarterfinals:

· Ries d. Larson, 3, 12

· Jernberg d. Williams, 9,17

· Hoff d. Minnehan, 5,7

· Grimmer d. Lundblad, 2,1.

Semifinals:

· Ries d. Jernberg, 1,2

· Grimmer d. Hoff, 6,7.

Finals:

· Grimmer d. Ries, (14), 14, 7.