M A C AT H L E T I C S
Missouri Squash Doubles Club Championships Finals Day BY ALEX INGHAM, SQUASH PRO
As Semifinals Coach Muhammad Tahir wasted no time and picked off MICDS star Henry Byrne. Byrne couldn't quite outmaneuver Tahir enough. 3-0. Nick Bahn and Pat Dolan gutted it out in a back-and-forth match. Dolan coming all the back from way down in the fifth to get closed out 11-9. As Finals Bahn took a dream start moving the ball around quickly and dropping in soft touches 9-4 up. Then, he lost his length short on the Tahir FH and came off the gas Tahir came straight back 11-9. In the second game, Bahn started positively again stretching out Tahir enough and pulling away. 11-4. In the third game, Bahn is up 9-6, lobbing well and carving in some tight backhand touch at the front. He reaches game ball 10-9 but can't convert. Tahir cashes in on a couple of put-aways, and Bahn doesn't chase down a couple of balls — effects of the earlier semi-final looking evident. 12-10. In the fourth game, Tahir sensed the heavy legs and was pulling Bahn from pillar-to-post and the drops were flying in shorter and shorter. The match goes to Tahir 11-9, 4-11, 12-10, 11-5. Solid performance from Bahn, but Tahir's experience and touch pulled him through. Bs Semifinals Sameer Shafqat ended comeback king Keating's five-setter weekend in three games, and Sam Striler conserved some energy getting off in three against Goot. Bs Finals B Final started with Shafqat having the most games per time on court, This favors Striler, whose tactics were clear — keep the ball in play, extend rallies, be careful not to get too negative as Shafqat will put the ball down. The first game was brutal, and Striler wins 17-15. Shafqat backed up the second game with a tidy finish at 11-7. Juniors don't get tired! Striler responded by digging balls back and twisting and turning Shafqat, pulling away too far to catch up 11-6. The last game runs of points back-and-forth. Striler is on it quick by hitting the spaces and earns match point, Shafqat puts it away with a forehand hold straight. Striler re-groups and keeps his head to close out 13-11. Cs Semifinals Atif Shafqat secured a 3-0 win over RC's David Barnes whilst the RC girls Bridget Clennan and Avery Summers went the full distance. Clennan closes in five points. They also draw each other later in the Ladies' final!
18 F CHERRY DIAMOND
Cs Semifinals Clennan got stuck back leaving short balls for Shafqat to jump on 11-2. In the second game, Clennan settled and counter attacked deep well, making her short game more effective but couldn't quite convert 13-11 Atif. Game three Atif raced to a six-point lead, Bridget clawed back, Atif had too much pace off any short balls at the front 11-6 Atif! Ladies Draw All of the girls train together daily and know each other's games like the back of their hands, this time was a battle of the sisters, Charlotte and Annabelle Medlers take out the top seeds Bridget and Avery. Derdeyns both 3-1. Derdeyns pull through in three against the Medlers. In their second match, it was very close with each game possibly going either way. Bridget put pressure on Avery with consistent deep rails and crosses and executed a nice short game while retrieving many great shots from Avery. Avery equaled the effort and was adding a volley or two in the mix making for very difficult and long points. It could have gone either way and came down to a point or two in each game. It was really a high-quality match! Avery defeated Bridget 6-11, 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7. 50+ Will Goldstein beat Atif Shafqat 3-0. Congrats Will! He got caught by the racquet on his eyelid accidentally and was the first (and hopefully last) live stitching surgery in the squash pro shop. Ds Racquet Club's Dillon Sanders and John Crowley ended the MAC junior's hopes of a repeat MAC Club champs final in the semis. Sanders used his Goliath reach to great effect closing the court down, 3-0, which proved to be too strong for Crowley. A great week of squash concluded! Congrats to the new Missouri State Champions! Thank you to all the St. Louis squash community for your support. It's great to see everyone together again battling it out! Thanks to everyone at the MAC for helping host the championships. Looking forward to the next one! Cheers! Alex
