John Brasch
The IOTC finished up its mixed doubles tournament in late February, proving once again that being married and playing mixed doubles is usually not the road to happiness. The results of the tournament are listed below so that the involved individuals have something to clip out and send to the grandchildren to prove that they don’t just drive around in their golf carts and drink wine all day.
There were three divisions to accommodate the differing skill levels. Divisions II and III played a round robin format, while the talent-laden first division had eight teams all vying for the huge prize money, admiration of their peers and spot on ESPN’s daily sports highlight show.
In Division III, Olena Buxton and Jack Hagerty were 2-1 in the round robin, while Dave “The Hammer” Rokusek and Edith Tanniru scorched all three opposing teams to finish a perfect 3-0 and take away the top prize money.
Division II featured some tough matches, but early on, in the battle of the bald mouthy guys, Wayne Newman and partner Terri Vasquez thumped John Brasch and the long-suffering Joann Zapatka in the first match, then never looked back to finish 3-0 and finish third from the last, albeit with the most prize money.
An eight-team field in Division I winnowed itself down to a hard-fought championship match between the Canadian duo of Curling King Brian Snell and partner Patti “Bam-Bam” Bain and Marv “He-Doesn’t-Even-Live-Here-Hired-Gun” Jensen and Annie “Oakley” Dugan. Unfortunately, the northern visitor representatives fell 6-0 and 6-2 in a match haunted by the specter of pre-tourney favorites Mario Dominguez and Karen Spaulding who were forced to withdraw by a mysterious leg injury. Voodoo, black magic and Russian involvement were all suspect but at press time, no charges have been filed. When questioned, Tournament Co-Directors Darlene Brasch and Mike Davin echoed each other in saying, “We know nothing, nothing I say, nothing… and there was no collusion!”
This year’s tournament served as an excellent lead-in to the Jason Morton event the following week. Tennis at all levels is always exciting at IronOaks.