Gould and Quick Rule the U Club (Boston) Finals
By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk © 2006; all rights of reproduction reserved.
Jan 17, 2006     

Demonstrating the firepower and chemistry that has characterized their performance this entire season to this point, top-seeded Preston Quick and Ben Gould swept to their second ISDA tournament win in as many weeks last night with a solid and efficient 15-12 9-15 15-9 15-12 victory over third seeds Clive Leach and Michael Pirnak in the final round of the University Club Of Boston championship.

Pirnak and Leach had numerous stretches during this 90-minute final in which they attained the quality that had carried them to an emotional five-game semifinal win Saturday afternoon over second seeds Viktor Berg and Gary Waite.

Leach in particular scored repeatedly in the front-right sector of the court with soft straight drops and severely angled reverse corners that were even more likely than usual to stay low and die in light of the utilization in this tournament of the fuchsia singles hardball instead of the substantially livelier regulation doubles ball. He also sent his opponents to the back-left corner with delicately placed lobs that frequently resulted in desperation responses that set Leach and his sharp-shooting partner Pirnak up for potential front-court winners.

These various tactics enabled them to stay with the No. 1 seeds until the very end of the close first game before several late unforced errors, including a bad one by Leach at 12-14, accounted for the outcome of that opening frame. Pirnak, whose sprawled-out, incredibly-angled reverse-corner winner at match-point in the 15-11 fifth game of the semis was clearly the shot of the tournament, got on a hot streak early in the second game, in which he and Leach jumped out to a big enough advantage to ensure that they would even matters up at a game apiece.

The match reached its defining juncture at 5-all in the third game. Those first 10 points had been dead even, territorially as well as statistically, with many lengthy all-court exchanges ending up as lets amid what increasingly constituted a furious struggle between the two pairs of partners to seize psychological control of the action. Ultimately it was Quick and Gould who would prevail, breaking through with a 5-0 run to 10-5 and never looking back, closing that game out at 15-9 and continuing on to 14-9 in the fourth from which a last-ditch three-point rally to 12-14 was abruptly terminated when Gould whipped a forehand cross court that cleanly passed Pirnak and brought an end to the evening's high-paced battle.

Pirnak and Leach played well even during this last half of the match, but Gould and Quick were slightly but definitely better, for a number of reasons, none of them major, but which added up. They were more committed to volleying and hence were able to gain a positional advantage. They imposed their individual weapons more frequently, especially Gould with the daring backhand roll-corners he hit for winners even from deep in the court, and Quick with the inside-out forehand overhead volleys that he confidently struck for front-court winners. And whenever they were forced to cover for each other and found themselves on their "off" walls, they demonstrated a comfort level while finishing out the point (which often ended up in their column) in their realigned fashion that presumably was borne of the two U. S. National Doubles titles (in 2003 and 2004) that Quick has won as a right-wall player and the praiseworthy success Gould has enjoyed, especially in pro-am competition, while playing the left wall.

As a consequence of the results so far this month, which began with Quick and Gould winning the U. S. Pro Championships in Wilmington, an event that Waite (who slightly sprained his ankle late in his and Berg's loss to Pirnak/Leach this past weekend) and Mudge didn't enter, Gould and Quick will wrest away the No. 1 team ranking from its long captivity with Waite and Mudge unless The Champs are able to win their sixth consecutive North American Open title in Greenwich this coming weekend. Never before has the possibility of a takeover seemed so within reach and rarely if ever has there arisen a challenger as formidably positioned to accomplish this task as Quick and Gould appear to be at present. Stay tuned.

Finals Recap:
a Preston Quick/Ben Gould (1) d Michael Pirnak/Clive Leach (3),
15-12 9-15 15-9 15-12.

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