Newport Community Squash

12/17/2014

2014 U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships

The 2014 U.S. Junior Open Squash Championships start play this Saturday, December 20, on the courts at Yale, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Choate. The finals are scheduled for Tuesday, December 23, at Yale.
The draws should be posted by Thursday at 9 pm.
Several Newport Community Squash members are playing: Hudson Dunn in the BU11s, Maya Bardorf and Ainsley Weber in the GU15s, and Ideal Dowling and Anne Glassie in the GU17s.
The draws are super-competitive and packed; the BU15s and BU19s have 128 players, the GU17s have 107 players, and the BU17 draw is not only filled at 128 but has 42 wait-listed players, including RICC's Jason Scanlon.
Many international juniors have logged some serious air miles to contend for the titles. An Egyptian contingent of players and coaches, for example, has been in residence this week at St. George's School, where they've been practicing daily to peak for the championships.

12/15/2014

Middle School Squash First for Aquidneck Island

In an auspicious first for Aquidneck Island's burgeoning middle-school squash scene, St. Michael's Country Day School hosted the RhodySquash team for a friendly scrimmage on Sunday, 6 December, at Newport Community Squash. Ten players from each program participated. The evenly matched lineups featured close play at all positions, and while St. Michael's won eight of the pairings, most of the players paid more attention to inhaling the pizza, making new friends, and listening to the tips from those new friends about ways to improve their games.

As always, the five-game matches proved most memorable for the fans. Three of Sunday's offerings went the distance: Lilly Furtado's win over St. Michael's Ashley Breyer, Nelson McMillan's come-from-behind victory over RhodySquash's Jaden Petrie, and Charlie de Ramel's scrappy seesaw win opposite RhodySquash's Colin McCabe.

The top three players for each squad also displayed in their respective tilts the flashes of skilled play that comes only from hours of devoted practice: Nick McConnell in his win over RhodySquash's Collin Cord, Hudson Dunn in his win over RhodySquash's Jonathan Tejada-Corleto (Hudson is currently ranked by US Squash as No. 22 in the United States in the BU11 category), and Bennett Van Liew in his win against RhodySquash's Sean Pietrie (Bennett is nationally ranked in the BU13 division by US Squash).

RhodySquash is a non-profit organization that combines academic tutoring and squash instruction. This after-school program is modeled after successful urban squash programs in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. The game, fast and so physically demanding, teaches students the importance of self-determination, integrity, sportsmanship, and strategic thinking.

John Wilson, St. Michael's coach, and Ann Guinan, the executive director and coach of RhodySquash, are at work planning a rematch for January 2015 that will include teams from RhodySquash's sister programs in Boston and New Haven.

12/15/2014

12/15/2014

The St. Michael's squash team.

11/13/2014

Kim sez the clean walls are a comin'!

11/13/2014

SOME GOOD FACE TIME

Open face on the racquet, bIg grin on a face: Charlie de Ramel about to tuck one in just above his Hero4 in a right front corner at Newport Community Squash.

11/05/2014

D Blue traveled to Providence's University Club for the team's first away match. The veterans' hard serves proved too much for most of the juniors, and the U Club prevailed, 3-2. But there were highlights: Bennett Van Liew scored a 3-1 win at No. 4 over Steve Salfeety, and Hudson Dunn hung on at No. 3 to beat one of the wiliest of veterans, Phil Leis, the current US Squash 80+ national champion, in five games. Dinner at the U Club followed. Bennett pronounced the gnocchi some of the best he's ever had.
--JW

11/05/2014

Bulldog Squash Opens 2014-15 Season with Win Over 35th-Ranked Boston College

Bryant Squash, the winner of last season's Hawthorne Cup and ranked 47th in the College Squash Association's preseason poll, opened its 2014-15 campaign by claiming three victories in four weekend matches played at the Badger & Rosen SquashBusters Center at Northeastern University. The Bulldogs' biggest win was a 5-4 Sunday squeaker over Boston College, which will elevate Bryant to a new, 35th-place CSA ranking.

In the weekend's other matches, Bryant lost to Northeastern 3-6 and beat Vermont 9-0 (see photo) and Siena 8-0.

In the BC match, played using the three-court system, Bryant took a 2-1 lead when sophomore Chase Ruben won 3-1 and newcomer Luke Lorenz used his deft touch to finesse a 3-0 win. In the second round of individual matches, BC evened things at 3-all when only Bryant's No. 2, Dana Parziale, was able to solve the puzzle for a 3-1 victory.

That left all the decisive fireworks to the last round of individual matches. Bryant's No. 1, team captain, and club president, senior Harry Waterton, took to the court while No. 4, Phil Carr, and No. 7, Josh Rubinstein, were both still deep in it. Carr played tough but came up short in a 1-3 loss, while Rubinstein had to contend with the herby-jerky, start/stop dynamics of a match twice halted to staunch blood flow: Josh's BC counterpart was a scrappy diver with thin skin at his knees and elbows. When Josh came back tough from 1-2 down to win the fifth game 11-7, it squared the matches at 4-all. The crowd compressed behind the court where the No. 1's battled.

The two players both seemed to relish the spotlight. BC's Sam Henderson took the first game 12-10. Waterton delivered an 11-9 answer, then a 14-12 seesaw win that found his attacking just exceeding the BC player's determined retrieving. In the fourth game, Waterton refined his precision a notch, reducing his errors into the tin and claiming an 11-8 victory and a 3-1 match decision that gave Bryant its slim margin of overall triumph.

Next weekend, Bulldog Squash travels to MIT for Saturday matches with MIT and Lehigh and a Sunday rematch with BC.

--JW

PS: Sophomore Robbie Fischer, the son of RICC's Ted Fischer, played No. 9 for Boston College and won his match against Bryant's Rohan Patodia, 3-0.

11/03/2014

On Monday night at Newport Community Squash, Newport D Blue juniors kicked off the new RI Squash season with a marathon session of 3/4 court punctuated by some individual scrimmaging. Their Fall River opponents for the RI Squash 2014-2015 season opener were celebrating the grand opening of the Fall River YMCA's new squash courts, so all agreed to play the league matches during the Thanksgiving league break.

L to R (standing): Tyler McGuire, Rex Underwood, Bennett Van Liew, Darcy Weber, Maya Bardorf, Liza Coogan.
(L to R, reclining at leisure): Charlie Mey, Hudson Spotlight Dunn.