20th Annual Bartlein Squash Championships in Santa Barbara

This year’s 20th Annual Bartlein Squash Championships at Santa Barbara Athletic Club attracted an entry of 70 players from around the state, one of the largest tournaments we have had in recent times. It was most pleasing to see the number of junior entrants – 8 in an under 19 division, and 7 in an under 14 division, as well as young players from CATE School and UC Berkeley. This tournament is also the only one in California to have a team event included, for which there was a $500 first prize.

Six teams entered, each with three players, one ranked above 5.0, one ranked below 5.0, and one ranked below 4.0. They were placed in two groups of three for their initial matches.

Group A consisted of:

• (Not) Robert’s Pick (Christian Geitner, Henry Hagenbuch, Terry Eagle)
• A Family Affair (Stefan Casteleyn, David Hirsch, Margarita Casteleyn)
• Berkeley Two (Bratzo Zivadinovic, Jonathan Siegel, Mikey Zarem)

Group B consisted of:

• Larry, Curly, & Mo (Jason Jewell, Steve Abbey, Thomas John)
• Berkeley’s Best (Ashley Kayler, Todd Borden, Amos Vernon)
• Team OC (Juan Carlos Pomalaza, Juan Haraguchi, Oliver Berghof)

Sunday’s matches would be the two winners of the groups playing in the final and the others playing off for 4th through 6th.

One group was quite clear cut, with (Not) Robert’s Pick winning the group comfortably with two wins and 5 points. A Family Affair and Berkeley Two tied on 2 points but Berkeley Two had won their head-to-head match 2-1 so they claimed second spot. The other group however, saw all three teams beat each other by the same 2-1 scoreline. Amazingly, they were also tied when we counted back the number of games won. This meant that they all came back to the club at 8am Sunday morning for a short play-off, where all three teams played each other again, but each match was just best of one game. The early morning play did not seem to favor Larry, Curly, & Mo, who went from just needing one game to win the group in the final match the previous day, to last place in the play-off. Team OC won the play-off and the right to compete later on in the day against (Not) Robert’s Pick for the $500 first prize.

In the first match of the team final Terry Eagle put up a great fight against Oliver Berghof but lost a close 3-1, leaving Christian Geitner the tough challenge of having to win to keep his team in contention. His opponent, Juan Carlos Pomalaza, had lost 3-1 to Jason Jewell the previous day, but had beaten him in the short play-off that morning, so the form book did not predict a win for Christian. Having said that, Christian had his chances and played very well, but Juan Carlos’ consistency and determination saw him through 3-1, leaving the third match a dead rubber. Henry Hagenbuch and Juan Haraguchi still took it seriously and Henry won 3-0. So this year’s team champions and winners of the $500 were a delighted Team OC.

Berkeley Two beat Berkeley’s Best 2-1 for third place, and Larry, Curly, & Mo beat A Family Affair 2-1 for fifth place. These two teams, led by former world #7 Stefan Casteleyn and SBAC’s Jason Jewell were actually the top two seeds and expected to meet in the final, but this format showed how close all the teams actually were.

Berkeley’s Ashley Kayler and Bratzo Zivadinovic contested the Men’s 5.0/5.5 final with Ashley prevailing by 3 games to 1. The Men’s 4.0/4.5 division produced the longest and most entertaining final of the event, between two SBAC members. Jonathan Siegel took a two game lead against Brendan Searls, but Brendan is not one to give in easily and he ground out some long rallies to get himself back into the match. This was the pattern of the fifth and final game too as they matched each other point for point. The last rally at 9-9 was possibly the longest of the match. Brendan won it and both players collapsed exhausted outside the court.

It took four matches for SBAC’s Jeff Lipshitz to win the Men’s 3.5 division, all against opponents from either CATE School or UC Berkeley. It was a great effort from Jeff who, it was pointed out, was about the same age as all his opponents put together! The Men’s 3.0 division was won by Hayden Fulstone of CATE School, who also provided the Men’s 2.5 winner in John Luikart. UC Berkeley’s Carrie Himmelrich won the Women’s 2.5 division. Terry Eagle lost a very close and hotly-contested match against Santa Cruz’s Fred Sadler to decide the Men’s over 55 event, which was a four player round robin. Santa Barbara’s Laguna Blanca School dominated the junior divisions, with Tommy Mullaney beating Jake Gudmundsen 3-0 in the under 19 final, and Patrick Ferroni beating Charlie Mullaney 3-0 in the under 14 final.

Bob Bartlein may not sponsor a 21st annual tournament if I write about his results, but I do want to recognize the incredible support that he has shown to SBAC’s squash program by his unwavering sponsorship. There can not be many sponsorships in squash of this many consecutive years. It is much appreciated – thanks Bob!

Robert Graham

SBAC Head Squash Professional